Appearances
by blinkblink
Summary: Takes place a few months after the series ends, Himeno, Yayoi, Takako and the older knights become summer camp councilors, a sort of continuation fic. Chapter 8: Fire sweeps through the camp, no one seems quite aware how dangerous it can be. COMPLETE
1. Summer Camp, eh?

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear, or any of the characters.  Please don't sue me.

AN: This is my first Pretear fic, although not my first fan fic (see my author profile if you're interested.)  I saw it on Yue's Media (http://yuesmedia.tripod.com) I highly recommend both the show and the site to anyone and everyone!

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"You should come with me to summer camp."  It had been a month since Takako's "defeat", or rather, change of allegiances, and the rescue of the city.  As no one save Himeno's immediate family and the Knights knew of the girl's role in saving the town she went unmolested as always, except for the few pesky jealous girls at school.  But even they were silenced by a look from Mayune when their taunting got out of hand or a glare from Mawata if she _ever_ heard them mistreating Himeno.  Now with the impending summer break, Yayoi was planning to go to summer camp as a councilor, and had decided to invite Himeno along.  

"Well, I'll have to ask Okaasan, of course.  But I'm sure she'll let me go.  And we could have Mawata-chan along too, she would enjoy it!"  Himeno smiled enthusiastically.

"Yoshi!  To the mountains it is!"  She pumped her fist in the air.  The rest of the class sweatdropped.  Apparently Himeno had forgotten she was in the middle of math class.

After the events revolving around the Taiji of Fenrir, Himeno had gone back to her normal… genki-ness.  This was treated in the same way in had been before, outward annoyance and inward smiling by her step-family.  Except for Mawata, who found everything Himeno did worthy of laughter and her smile, which Himeno constantly praised.  And so Mawata had been drawn out of her quiet depression and despair.

Mayune acted as if the whole thing had never happened; traps were set every morning at precisely 7:00am by Tanaka, and Himeno could usually be counted upon to fall into at least one.  The only difference in Mayune's character was a new protectiveness of her family, this was mostly concerned with Mawata but could on occasion, as we said, be carried over onto Himeno.

Kaoru and Natsue remained exactly the same- lovey-dovey to the extreme.  Still, Kaoru made more attempts to spend time with Mawata, and Natsue could be counted on to be there whenever Mawata asked for her presence.  But mostly they were disgustingly romantic.  

The three younger knights spent most of their time in Leafenia, patrolling their beautiful home.  When any of their elders had time they were schooled, between them the older knights could manage to scrape together the fundamentals of Math, Science, Language, History and Geography, which, as Goh said, "was all you really need to know to get a good date."  And that was good enough for the kids.

Kei continued to work at his programming job, the money he and Sasame earned supported most of the knight's ventures in the real world as a waiter and an odd-job man did not, between them, make enough for more than take-out three times a week.  So Kei was in charge of producing enough money to pay for an apartment which was mostly used by himself, Goh and Sasame as the kids slept in Leafenia and Hayate tended to disappear at night.  

Sasame was in charge of bringing home enough money for other living expenses: food, furniture (the kids were told not to bounce on the couch, but it was just so _fun_, until it broke), crockery etc.  Takako had returned to school, having left in her junior year she didn't age being trapped inside the seal and thus was taking her junior year over again.  She and Sasame spent time together whenever it was possible, she enjoyed listening to his radio show and occasionally writing in under an assumed name. 

Hayate remained the only one without a set schedule.  He tended to hang around the Awayuki house, doing odd carrying jobs for Kaoru or making fun of Himeno.  Still, when any close contact with her made him blush, Himeno was easily able to tell that he cared a good deal for her.  And really, that was all that mattered to her.  

So, it was arranged that Yayoi, Himeno and Mawata would be taking a trip to the mountains to act as councilors to a bunch of five to ten year old boys.  Natsue had shrugged and decided hey, it was their lives, and if they wanted to be annoyed out of their minds, that was their decision.  After all, it couldn't be coincidence that no one else had signed up for councilors.  And that was a problem.  Ten councilors were being asked for, but the camp felt they could get by with eight.  The three girls being the only ones who had signed up, they were still five short.  It was at this point that Himeno got that glint in her eye which even Hajime and Shin had come to recognize as the "run before impending doom sets in" look.  

"I bet Takako-san would love to come help with the kids!  And if she did, you know that Sasame would, and Sasame could probably get Kei and Goh in, and with them, Hayate would come too!  And that would be five!  It would be perfect!"  Himeno made the victory sign.  Yayoi's eyes sparkled.

"It would be just like the romance novel coming out this fall!  Romance at the camp!  While the kids play, unsuspecting, the councilors fall in love, brought together by their love of the kids!  Kawaiiiii!"  Yayoi slumped to the ground, hugging her ever present romance novel to her body.  Himeno sweatdropped.  

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As predicted, Takako was easily convinced to come help out, and with her came Sasame.  He in turn managed to persuade Goh (ask would be a better word, after all, who wants to work taking orders all summer?) and the two of them took down Kei, who decided he could always bring his laptop.  

Himeno wandered the Awayuki grounds, searching for the elusive Hayate. 

"Where is he?  I know he's around here somewhere.  Hayate!  Oi!  Hayate!"  A rustle of leaves was all she had to alert her to the presence of the Knight of Wind.

"Jeez, Hayate, give a little warning, ne?"  

Hayate gave her a Look.  Himeno sighed.

"I wanted to know if you, um, wanted to come with us, that is, theolderknightsandMawata-chanandYayoiandTakakotobecouncilorsforasummercamp?"  Himeno ran the second half of the sentence together in her anxiety, and then paused to stare at Hayate, who stared back blankly.

"What?"

"Will you come be a councilor at summer camp with me?  Please?"  Puppy-dog look.

"Arg, fine.  Fine.  But I'm holding you responsible for anything bad that happens."  Hayate stalked off, leaving Himeno unsure as to whether she had won or lost.

Sasame appeared at Hayate's side.

"You know that you would have gone, even if she hadn't asked you."

"Just shut up."

Sasame smiled.

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The kids had wanted to come along, even if they had to be campers, but Himeno had decided that having four knights along was more than enough, and if the kids came they would probably traumatize the normal kids irreversibly.  Mannen thought that was unfair, they wouldn't traumatize them anymore than Himeno-neechan.  Himeno had thwapped him, and stood firm.  It was decided that the kids would stay in Leafenia and make short trips to the real world to make sure it hadn't been destroyed.  If they had to, they could always use tyipi to home in on the other knights and get them for help.  

The end of school came and went, high marks were received by all, except for Yayoi's gym mark, and Himeno's arithmetic one, and the bags were packed.  They would be taking the bus, since Himeno thought it was unfair that only she and Mawata had permission to use the limo (and even if everyone did, they wouldn't all fit) and besides, it was more… authentic this way.

The ride was long and boring.  After a few hours in a bus packed with noisy people, scenery looses whatever small interest it had at the start of the trip, and you begin to wish you could tie yourself to the top of the bus in hopes of being knocked off when passing through a low tunnel.  Yayoi and Takako were the only ones gifted with the ability to read while traveling, the rest got car sick if they attempted it, as both Goh and Sasame discovered.  So Yayoi read her romance novels (which was, as Kei said, one mercy, since while she was reading she could not narrate her own novels to the group) and Takako read a manga borrowed from Himeno, every few seconds furrowing her eyebrows as the heroes made narrow escapes.  Mawata had promptly fallen asleep.  Sasame stared unseeing out the window, probably listening to music playing in some distant town and Himeno watched the other knights.  Hayate, Goh and Kei had set up a small card game, Hayate and Goh seated next to each other and Kei in the seat in front of them, having tilted it all the way back used it as a sort of bed, lying on it and holding his cards up in front of his face.

Currently Hayate was winning, judging from the pile of chips on the sweater he had put across his lap to hold them.  Goh had his piled up next to him, or rather, he would have if he had had any left.  Himeno didn't know how many Kei had, they were on the seat of his chair which was out of her-and the other players'- field of view.

"Ha!  Straight flush!"  Goh held his cards out flat and stuck out one palm, obviously expecting a payment of chips.  Hayate reached for his pile, but Kei dropped one hand over his seat, revealing his hand.

"Full house.  I win."  A quiet smirk settled on his face.  Goh's eyes narrowed.

"You couldn't possibly have gotten that fairly.  I think you're cheating."

"I most certainly am not."

"Are too."

"Am not.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am too?  Goh, please speak properly.  And I did not cheat."  Kei accidentally moved his foot onto the switch controlling his chair movement, bringing the chair abruptly up to a 90 degree angle.  Kei went flying to the floor, chips and cards flying everywhere.  Goh laughed.

"Maybe I didn't win, but at least _I_ can sit in my chair."  

And so the trip continued.

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A few hours later all activity on the bus had ceased.  The two girls continued to silently read, but they were the only ones actually doing anything.  Mawata was still asleep and Sasame had followed her example, joined shortly by Himeno.  For a while Goh had been plotting to do something amusing to them while they slept, "hey, hair dye is always fun, ne Kei?"  But that idea had been quashed by Hayate and Takako, who had bluntly told him that if he did anything to Himeno and Sasame (respectively), he would wish he had been tied to a large rock and dumped into an ocean with man-eating sharks.  So Goh had shut up for a while, before challenging Kei and Hayate to road bingo.  Kei had told him in no uncertain terms that road bingo was a child's game and that he would rather be eaten alive by a mayouchuu than play.  Hayate had looked at him as if he was insane.  And so they had spent the rest of the trip in silence.  

Finally the bus had stopped at the town from which they would hike up to the camp.  Their baggage was thrown out from the bus' luggage holds, and they were left standing in the dust.  

"Well, that was fun!"  Himeno smiled brightly, receiving replying smiles from only Yayoi and Mawata.  

"Well, let's go!  YAAA!!"  She sprinted towards the mountain, only to stop when she realized no one was behind her.  Hayate stood holding her pack in his hand, staring at her.  Himeno laughed nervously and returned, shouldering it.  When everyone had toted their packs they marched together into the forest.  There was a quick debate, while walking, on why they couldn't a) fly to the camp or b) just appear there, but Himeno shot both ideas out of the air with the sound reasoning that while they flew they were easily spotted and they could very likely appear somewhere were a lot of kids were, which would be a problem.  So they walked.

The hike wasn't that long.  After all, what's an hour of your life?  Coming out of the woods in the clearing that the camp occupied, the first thing the group heard was screaming.  They ran forward, ready for battle.  What they found was far worse.

Two hundred children swarming the camp, fighting with each other, climbing trees, chasing squirrels, and attempting to destroy the camp buildings.  The knights dropped their bags and stared.  Somehow Goh's appraisal fit the situation perfectly.

"Damn"

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And so ends chapter 1.  Kinda short, but it's a cross between a prologue and a chapter, after all.  I hope you enjoyed it!  I'd love it if people reviewed and told me what they think.  Next chapter should be interesting, ne?

Okaasan- mother (formal)

-neechan- older sister, not necessarily related.  Semi-informal suffix.

Yoshi- Okay, great, let's go… 

Genki- (in this context) happy

Ne- eh, ah, hmm

Kawaii- cute


	2. A Walk in the Woods

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear or any of the characters.  Please don't sue me?  

AN: I don't know Takako's family name, it's (to my knowledge) never said in the series and the official website doesn't even acknowledge her as a character due to spoilers, so we'll just pretend Mikage (the name she used as a maid) is her last name… O.o;;;  Um, someone commented that the paragraphs are very far apart, I can't fix that, it just happens when the story gets converted (by Word, since I'm too lazy to do it myself) into html, which I do to get italics and bold.  Basically, I think the pros of having italics and bold are more than the con of having big spaces.  ^-^  Hope you enjoy the chapter, but beware of spoilers for later eps!

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The group stared in shock as kids ran rampant over the camp, creating as much destruction as they could.  Himeno rolled up her sleeves.

"All right, we'll just have to work a little harder!  C'mon!"  She marched into the camp, only to be immediately run over by a pack of eight-year-olds. 

"Itee."  She lay on the ground, one leg sticking up.  Hayate strode over.

"Oi.  Tulip-head.  This is not a good place to sleep."  Indeed it wasn't, as a minute later Hayate was lying on the ground next to Himeno, small footprints covering his face. 

The rest of the group, having finished sweatdropping, gathered themselves together and walked into the camp.  Mawata stared at the kids, taken aback by their rowdy-ness.  

"Um, excuse me?"  None of the kids even heard her.  Goh cleared his throat.

"HEY!  SHUT UP!"  Silence rang through the clearing.

"That's better.  Himeno?"  Goh stepped back to leave a space for Himeno in front of the group.

"Hello!  We're your camp councilors.  If you could all please gather around?"  The kids reluctantly dropped each other and whatever they had managed to pry off of cabins and formed a rough semi circle around Himeno.

"I guess we'll all be spending a few weeks together, so let's get to know each other!  Umm, I'm Awayuki Himeno, this is Awayuki Mawata-san, that's Takato Yayoi-san, there's Mikage Takako-san uh, uh…"  She stared at the knights.  It had never occurred to her that they didn't have family names, but they had never introduced themselves with any, so… "and those are Hayate-san, Sasame-san, Goh-san and Kei-san."  She rushed through their introductions, hoping the kids wouldn't ask why they didn't have last names.  It also occurred to her that some of them, Sasame and Kei in particular, would need to put on more appropriate clothes as white suits didn't really cut it for the wilderness.  Unfortunately her name plan was immediately spoiled by the five year old child who walked up to Goh and pulled on his pants leg.  Goh looked down.

"Goh-san, what's your family name?"  The child smiled innocently, not unlike Shin.  

Himeno laughed nervously.

"Uh, never mind, it's not important.  Now, let's get you split up into groups!  Five year-olds over there,"…  

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When the children had been split up into six different groups according to age it was discovered that there were only seven five year olds and ten six year olds.  They were merged into one group and given to Mawata and Yayoi to take care of.  The seven year olds, that age where parents really start to send their kids off to camp, were thirty kids strong.  They were given to Himeno and Takako as the older boys didn't want girls for their councilors.  The fifty odd eight year olds were put under care of Sasame, the fifty nine year olds to Kei and the rest- about fifty again, mostly ten year olds with a few older ones whose parents didn't have anything else to do with them, were given to Hayate and Goh together, as they promised to be the most trouble.  

As it had taken the better part of the day to trek up to the camp, dinner time was almost upon them.  And the kids were getting hungry.  Very hungry.  Takako and Goh had made a dive for the kitchen in a desperate bid to get some food ready before they were besieged by starving children ready to do much hair pulling in order to get their food.  

They found a massive supply of graham wafers, some celery, peanut butter and not much else.  Takako began chopping up celery with a disturbingly large knife while Goh broke graham wafers up into half size pieces for the younger kids.  When they were done they had ants on a log (celery with peanut butter on it and raisins for the ants) minus the ants, and graham crackers.  There was also a healthy supply of surprisingly sweet juice.  That is, juice with enough sugar content to keep the taiji of Fenrir happy for months.  Or little kids up way past their bedtimes.  Unfortunately, neither Takako nor Goh thought of that before they poured it out in large portions to counter the dryness of the graham crackers.  

The kids were not very happy with the prospect of eating celery ("eww, health food!") but the juice helped it along.  The adults (or teens) were not happy about any of it, and it was resolved that Yayoi, Himeno and Hayate would make a trip into town to stock up on food and anything else the following day.  

Diner passed with some semblance of order, only two food fight attempted to break out and they were quickly terminated by Goh and, surprisingly, Yayoi, who could stop a peanut butter bomb before it ever left the attacker's hand with just a look.  

After diner it was still light outside so the kids were taken out into the large parade ground in front of the camp to play until it got dark.  At nine o'clock it was getting dark and the kids were still going.  Goh thought that maybe they were just little devils, but Sasame discovered the solution to the mystery while cleaning out an empty jug of the juice where he found almost a pound of sugar sitting in the bottom of it.  New juice was added to the list of necessities.  

When the kids finally began to peter out around nine-thirty they were roomed according to age.  The 10 cabins were easily filled, leaving only one run down one (it had been the focus of the children's destructive attention due to the large sign on it reading "councilor's building") for the eight councilors.  A blanket was put up as a divider between the girls and guys, and Goh told Sasame to observe it.  Sasame told Goh… well, never mind.  Lights finally went out at ten o'clock.  By midnight most of the councilors had fallen asleep, and so only one heard someone pad across the floor of the cabin, careful not to trip in a hole Himeno had discovered earlier (when she fell into it on her way to her bunk) and open the door.  A few seconds later the door shut, and a second figure moved across the room towards the door, but this one flew, thereby avoiding the creaky floor board situation all together.  

Mawata sat outside on the steps in a pair of shorts and a large tee-shirt, staring at the sky.  It was dark, clouds having moved in to hide the stars and the weak moon, only a few days after a new moon it was hardly more than a sliver, or would have been if it had been visible.  Afraid to disturb the others she stumbled into the open space before the cabins, stopping to stare into the dark trees and then back up at the sky.  She shivered, the dark scared her now after her experience with it close up and personal.  The cabin had been getting warm and she had grown frustrated with the heat and not being able to sleep- maybe that nap she had on the way to the camp was to blame- and so had come outside for some fresh air.  But she hadn't expected it would be so dark.  She turned to go back to the cabin, and then realized she didn't know where the cabin was.  In the pitch dark she couldn't see anything or distinguish cabins from trees.  She began to get worried, and stumbled forwards a few paces.  Nothing.  No cabin that way.  Mawata began to breath harder.

Even if she did find a cabin, how could she be sure it was the right one, and not one of the children's cabins?  She would look so foolish, running into a cabin full of kids.  But what if there were animals out in the forest, waiting?  She ran in a different direction and tripped on a root, falling hard to the ground.  The wind blew through the trees and branches cracked and whispered.  An owl hooted.  Mawata scrambled backwards, and then realized she had no idea if that was indeed backwards or if she was taking herself into danger.  She made a small scared sound in her throat pushed herself to her feet, running in another direction.  She smacked into a tree, nearly screamed and backed away, hugging herself with one hand and covering her mouth with another, her eyes wide.  She stumbled backwards farther and bumped into another tree, jumping away like a scared rabbit.  Her shoulders began to shake as tears formed in her eyes and her heart beat accelerated.  She ran more, only to trip again, this time over a fallen tree.  Mawata had run into the forest and was getting farther away from the camp with each step she took.

The teen pulled her legs up to her chest, shuddering as her fingers ran over a large cut on her leg from the tree's rough bark.  Something cracked in the woods behind her.  Mawata's eyes shot open wide and she got up again, only to ram her knee into the tree trunk.  She made a small "eep" noise before covering her mouth with her hand again.

Another crack.  She stumbled forward, hands outspread to find things in her path before she ran into them.  She made it a few feet before warm hands grabbed her upper arms.  She struggled in the grip and screamed hysterically, tears and sobs interrupting the original cry.  She was spun around and a hand covered her mouth.  She bit it and it retracted, muffled cursing coming from its owner.  She pulled and scratched at the other arm until a light lit up her attacker.  It was Kei, looking disheveled and tired.  He held her right arm with his left, his right arm hanging back, still sore from the bite it had received.  His bare forearm was turning red with scratches.  The knight looked down at her, eyebrows and lids low over his eyes giving him an annoyed look.  She continued to kick at his legs and scratch at his arms, the information that it was a friend who held her not sinking into her panic filled mind.  Kei dropped the sarcastic look and took on one of concern, the light shining from him revealing her terrified nature.

"It's me, Mawata-san.  It's okay, you're safe.  Could you stop thrashing?"  He spoke quietly, keeping a loose grip on her, afraid if he let go she would try to run away and hurt herself again.  He could see the blood flowing from a cut on her leg.  She calmed down, dropping her arms and semi collapsing.  He held her up by the arms and she fell in against his chest, sobbing against his tee-shirt and wrapping her hands in the fabric.  She cried for a few minutes and then pulled away, wiping her face with the back of her arm.  Her eyes were red from crying and still wide from the fright she had given herself, but she managed a smile anyway.

"Thank-thank you, Kei-san.  I'm sorry, I was just scared, I thought you were an animal or something."  Her voice was raspy from crying but held humour in it all the same.  Kei smiled.

"That's alright, I should have identified myself.  Would you like to go back to camp now?"  

Mawata looked down at herself, and then realized that she could see herself.  At night, in a forest, and she could see perfectly.  Looking up, she could see that now Kei was holding a small ball of light in his hand and it was illuminating the area around her.  For the first time since her "rescue" that night she looked at the knight.  He wore, like her, a large tee-shirt and shorts.  Bruises were forming on his legs from where she had kicked him and his arms were red with scratches, they even bled in some places.  Her eyes went wide again, and she backed away from him.  Kei looked down at her, startled, and stepped towards her, afraid that she might have gone into shock.

"Mawata-san?  Doushita?"

"I, I hurt you!  I'm sorry!  I'm so sorry!"  She pointed briefly to Kei's arms before hugging herself, tears forming in her eyes again.  She began to shiver. 

"I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to!  I don't, don't want to hurt people!  I don't want to be evil!  Please!"  Her eyes had begun to go blank, her contact with reality fading away as she slipped into a nightmare.  Kei dropped the light and took her by the arms, shaking her lightly.

"Mawata-san?  It's alright, Mawata-san, you didn't hurt me.  Mawata-san?"  He shook her more.

"Gomen!  Gomen nasai!  Tasukete!  Kudasai!"  Sobs began to shaker her body.

"Mawata-san, snap out of it!  It's alright!  I am fine, and so are you!  Please, calm down."  

Mawata sobbed and fell forwards blindly, catching herself on Kei's shirt and once again sobbing into it.  He wrapped his arms around her slight form awkwardly, patting her hair down.

"It's alright, Mawata-san, it's alright."  He moved to sit on the tree trunk, Mawata drawing herself up into his warm if slightly uncomfortable embrace.  She tucked her head up under Kei's chin, unconsciously blowing his hair away from her nose.  Kei turned red, but didn't let the sobbing girl go.  Slowly she calmed down and stopped crying, until even her huge gasping breaths had reduced themselves to normal breathing.  

"Mawata-san?  Are you alright now?"  

Mawata pulled away, crawled down out of Kei's lap and onto the tree next to him.  The light, which had been shining brightly in a sphere around him while his hands were occupied returned to a ball in his now free hand.  

"Hai, arigatou."

"Would you like to tell me about it?  I mean, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to, and maybe Sasame would be-" Kei cut himself off in the middle of his own sentence when he realized what he was saying.  It wasn't that she seemed to harbor any ill feelings towards Sasame, it was just that she probably would never want to tell him her dark feeling anymore, she probably had a fear he might exploit them again.  "Never mind.  But _I_ would be happy to listen."  

Mawata cocked her head and stared at him for a minute.  Then she looked at the ground, her short hair covering her red eyes.

"Al-alright.  I'm not tired yet, so I might as well, I guess.  It's just that, that I'm afraid if I ever feel negative, or unhappy, or hurt anyone ever again something awful will happen.  And, and I don't think I could stand it if I lost what I've just found now.  You see, after Otousan … died, I thought I was all alone, all alone to hold the family together.  And I was, but I brought it on myself.  Okaasan needed me to be strong for the short while that she was in grief and couldn't cope with oneesan, but after that I could have acted like a normal child, cried, asked for help or attention.  But I continued to think that I had to hide my feelings, that no one would understand them, when they really would have if I had showed them.

"After a while I was just so miserable that the only thing I cared about was Sasame-san's radio program.  And when he came and offered to, offered to save me it was just too good to refuse.  So I went, and nearly destroyed everything that I loved, even if I never realized it.  It took Himeno, and Otousan- I mean Kaoru-san- to show me.  I almost destroyed everything, just because I was foolish when I was five years old.  I never want to hurt anything because I don't understand, if I did it would be as bad as hurting my family."  Mawata sniffed but didn't cry again.

"You, Mawata-san, are very strong, and very smart.  You are right, it's not good to hurt things you don't understand, but you can't live your life forcing yourself to be happy.  Hurting yourself is as bad as hurting something else.  If you aren't happy, you don't have to act happy just so that you don't hurt someone else.  That's doing what you were doing when you were younger, isn't it?"  Mawata nodded, and Kei continued, "so if you're sad, be sad, just don't be sad all the time.  People aren't meant to constantly be in one state of mind, to constantly be happy or sad or angry or jealous.  You are interesting because you're different, not because you are the same all the time.  So act how you feel, just temper it a little bit."  Kei smiled, eliciting a smile from her.

"There, see, you smiled because you wanted to, not to make me happy.  You did do it because you wanted to, didn't you?"

Mawata nodded, smiling again, and Kei could see that she meant it.

"If it would make you feel better, you can tell me when you're sad or hurt.  In fact, I would like you to.  You've had enough pain for a life time, Mawata-san.  And it's in my job description to protect things."  He made a small "victory" sign with his free hand, and Mawata smiled again, and nodded, then yawned.  Kei stretched slightly.

"Should we go back?  You should clean that cut out, it might get infected."  He pointed to the gash on her leg from the encounter with the tree trunk.  Mawata nodded.

"Okay, but could we not tell the others about it?  I, I don't want them to worry," she pleaded with Kei.

"Alright, we'll stop and clean it before we go back, and they'll never know.  C'mon."  He pulled her up, but as soon as he let go of her she fell down again, a surprised expression on her face.  She struggled to her feet, but only made it a few paces before stepping on a sharp rock.  It hadn't bothered her when she had gone into the forest, she had been too scared to notice, but now she realized that the forest floor was littered with sharp objects just waiting to be stepped on.  And being exhausted didn't help.  Kei, who had thought enough to wear slip on shoes, knelt down in front of her.

"Get on.  Let's go."

Mawata climbed gingerly onto his back, almost afraid her weight would be too much for him, but he stood easily and walked back towards the camp, holding her back with one hand and the light with the other.  

They went to the mess hall where there was a large sink.  Kei stopped and knelt down, but Mawata didn't get off.

"Mawata-san?  Mawata-san, we're here."  He looked around to find she had fallen asleep.  Sighing quietly he set her down on the ground and walked off to get the first aid kit.  He returned with it and quickly cleaned the cut on her leg off and bandaged it with gauze, tying it off so that the bandage wasn't too thick.  If she wanted to wear pants without it being noticeable it had to be thin.  After he finished her leg he quickly cleaned his arms, the small amounts of blood from the scratches she had cut with her nails was dry already but the cuts stung when put under water.  He grimaced slightly, but shrugged.  He would rather he get scratched than she get lost in the woods alone at night. 

Kei dried his arms off and carried Mawata back to the cabin in his arms, unable to get her on his back without someone else to help.  In the cabin he floated silently over to her bunk- going past the blanket he cast a furtive glance at Goh, if anyone saw him doing this he would never hear the end of it- and dropped her lightly into it, covering her with her blankets and taking special care that her leg was covered.  When he finished he returned to his own bed, straightening the dividing blanket on the way, and crawled into it.  He was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

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That was interesting, eh?  I hope no one has anything against Kei.  He's probably my favorite character.  Anyway, we'll see if anything develops out of that, it's quite possible nothing will, you never know.  Hope you enjoyed it, love hearing from people!  

Japanese words used, _hopefully_ in order of appearance ^-~

Itee- more crude way of saying ouch (remember Himeno being rebuked for it by Natsue?  That was funny.)

Doushita- what's wrong?

Gomen- sorry

Gomen nasai- very sorry/formal sorry 

Tasukete- help

Kudesai- formal please (more formal than Onegai)

Hai- yes

Arigatou- thank you

Otousan- father

Okaasan- mother

Oneesan- sister


	3. A Trip to the Store

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear, or any of the characters.  Please don't sue me.

AN: I don't have very much free time this week, so the next chapter might not be up until the weekend, at least.  Sorry!  You'll just have to enjoy this one for the time being.

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Himeno woke up and yawned, stretching her arms.  Unfortunately, she didn't realize that in her sleep she had rolled onto the very edge of the bunk and this movement disrupted her already precarious balance, sending her crashing to the floor where she landed with a thud.  The rest of the cabin jumped.  She could hear the knights on their side talking quietly before Hayate's voice rang over the others.

"Are you okay, Tulip-head?"  

Himeno stared at a tall shadow on the other side of the blanket.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Who else would make so much noise so early in the morning.  Only you could manage that."  

"HIYAAA!"  Himeno flew through the blanket, throwing a punch straight at the shadow's head.  They tumbled to the floor together, tearing the blanket down and effectively trapping themselves in it.  Himeno punched in the area where she was sure Hayate lay entangled in the blanket.  

"Oi, Himeno.  Are you looking for me?"  

Himeno looked up to see Hayate standing a few feet away.  She reddened and looking down into the blanket she was sitting on.  Caught in the folds was Goh, looking very harassed.  Himeno laughed nervously.

"A hahahahahhahahah.  Sorry, Goh.  Excuse me."  She launched herself at Hayate, taking him down with one punch.  The others knights stared after her.

On their side of the cabin, the girls sat in bed, blankets pulled up high.  Or rather, Yayoi and Takako did.  Mawata slept on, oblivious to the somewhat one-sided fight going on in the cabin.  When Hayate had surrendered and the blanket had been replaced so as to allow the girls somewhere to change (the knights had only to wish it and their clothes appeared, solving the changing problem for them) Himeno discovered that Mawata still hadn't woken up.

"Hey, Mawata-chan.  C'mon, get up and greet the day!" 

Mawata rolled over, groaning.  

"Mawata-chan?"  Himeno poked Mawata in the shoulder, eliciting only another groan.  

"Hey, Takako-san, Mawata-chan won't get up.  What should I do?"  Himeno was unsure whether to let her step-sister sleep in or wake her.  Takako opened her mouth to reply but a voice from the other side of the cabin answered instead.  Himeno identified it as Kei's.

"Let her sleep, Himeno.  She had a late night."  

Whispering from the other side of the blanket again, and then Goh's voice predominated, "and how would you know, Kei?  Been sneaking onto the other side?"  Goh made is sound as if Kei had traveled behind enemy lines.

"I heard her go outside last night, late.  She didn't come back for quite a while."  A door opened and shut, and the rest of the knights recommenced their whispering.  Himeno and Takako shrugged to each other, while Yayoi stared off into space.

"Oh, it was just like I said!  Brought together under the beautiful moonlight, the knight in shining armor confesses his love to the girl he knows he can never have!  But she rejects him!  'We cannot be together!  You must go!' Heartbroken, the knight returns, only to find that his love needs him to save her!  He rushes off in the middle of the night again-'  Yayoi was interrupted by Himeno's stare.  On the other side of the blanket mass sweatdropping was taking place.  Himeno cleared her throat.

"Well, if Mawata-chan was awake all last night, we should let her sleep.  Yayoi, can you mind your kids alone?"  Himeno waited for a nod from Yayoi before continuing, "then Hayate and I can go to the store and get food.  Is that okay with everyone?"  Various affirmations came from the group.  Goh looked as if he was going to say something, but a Look from Sasame shut him up.  Himeno got up.

"Yoshi!  Let's go get the kids!"  She led the rest out of the cabin, to where the already waiting kids were wreaking havoc on the camp and Kei, who had been overtaken as soon as he had left.  Himeno was surprised to see that he was wearing sweatpants and a loose long-sleeved shirt, but when she looked behind her she saw that Sasame was attired similarly and the other knights all wore jeans and tee-shirts.  Goh and Takako went off to prepare whatever breakfast could be found.

Himeno marched up to the front of the kids and stood strong, refusing to be quailed by the mass of rowdy children.

"HEY!  Today you will have breakfast before going on hikes with your councilors.  After breakfast you will all return here where your councilors will meet you and take you out to explore the forest.  Okay?"  

"YEESSS."  The kids stampeded into the mess hall, running over Sasame and Kei, who had not been quick enough to get out of the way, in the process.  There they were served porridge (a cunning mix of graham crackers and water) and watched by Takako and Yayoi.  Himeno took the knights outside to talk to them.

"While we're here you know that you can't use your powers, right?  And that means flying, changing clothes in front of the kids, disappearing, using your fire to burn the annoying ones to a crisp," she looked at Goh, who coloured slightly and looked away, smiling a very fake smile, "or anything else.  These children's parents have trusted us with them, and you're not to freak them out or anything, okay?"  

The knights nodded, feeling rather chagrined even though they hadn't done anything (yet).  Himeno nodded.

"Okay.  Hayate, let's go.  Sasame, I'm leaving you and Takako in charge, okay?" 

Sasame nodded and Himeno dragged Hayate off into the woods in the direction of the town.

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As soon as they had walked about a kilometer away from the camp Hayate grabbed Himeno's wrist.  Himeno pulled away instinctively and threw a punch.

"Hentaiii!"  

Hayate fell to the ground and stared at her for a minute before rolling his eyes.

"Well, I _was_ going to offer you a ride, but if you'd rather walk…"  Hayate flew up, supported by an invisible gust of wind and floated a few feet away.  Himeno blushed.

"Ah.  Sorry…" she looked at the path she would have to take if she walked.  It was a good hour long walk, as they had discovered on the trip up.  She looked around, certainly no one would see them in the middle of the forest.

"No, I don't really want to walk.  Could I …"  She blushed harder and looked at the ground.  A tight grip on her wrist was all the warning she had before the two of them catapulted up into the air, speeding over the trees easily.  Himeno squeaked and shut her eyes, but after a minute opened them again.  The air flying past her hair felt good, and now that she was wearing shorts she didn't have to worry about people looking up her skirt.  Himeno sighed.  That was a bit of a shallow thought given that the first flight had been related to saving many lives.  Still, it was hard to enjoy something when you were worried, and now Himeno could relax.  Well, except for that large tree they were heading straight for-

"KIYAAAA!"  

Hayate, who had been watching Himeno incase she suddenly decided to try to fly on her own or something equally foolish, had not been watching the road.  And thus he had to swerve sharply to the right.  He was holding Himeno's hand in his right and his only choice was to move so as to ram right into her, if he turned the other way he could be sure of clearing the tree but her chances were pretty slim. 

Himeno's scream was cut off as Hayate suddenly launched himself right at her, his body knocking hers away from the tree.  The maneuver would have been successful if Hayate had thrown himself just a little harder, but he hadn't wanted to _hurt_ Himeno, so he had held back, and consequently he thudded straight into the tree and let go of Himeno's hand.  They fell separately towards the ground, Hayate falling through the tree branches and Himeno through the open air.  Her scream shook the knight out of the pain the tree was causing him and he came rocketing out of the branches and down after Himeno, who was falling faster than him with no tree limbs to impede her drop.

He reached his arm out to her and moved himself so that he was falling head first, hoping his weight and more aerodynamic position was enough to cause him to fall faster than her.  He dared not use the wind to make him fall faster, it would, but it would also rush past him and blow Himeno down as well.  

"Himeno!  Take my hand!"  Hayate stretched his arm out as far as it would reach, ignoring the painful gashes on it caused by the tree branches.  Himeno's eyes were wide with terror but she held her arm up, not daring to look down at the ground that was so rapidly approaching.

"Hold on!  I'm coming!"  Hayate swore mentally.  In a few seconds Himeno would hit the ground, he wasn't going to make it.  Only one way now…

Himeno watched as Hayate disappeared in a burst of blue and white light.   Her eyes shot wide, even wider than they had been.  Looking to the side she could see that the branches were stopping and the trunks were bare, that meant that in a second she would hit the ground.  She scrunched her eyes shut.

Hayate reappeared on the ground underneath Himeno.  She was almost on top of him.  He shot up into the air, grabbing her a split second before she would have hit the ground.  His shoulders ached from taking something out of the air at the speed both of them were going.  But he didn't regret his actions, not a bit.  The knight of wind floated in the air a foot or two above the ground, holding Himeno in his arms.  

Himeno opened her eyes to stare up at Hayate and cocked her head slightly.

"I told you you shouldn't fly."

Hayate dropped Himeno.

"Why you, get back here!"

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They made it to the town in record time, Hayate fleeing from Himeno's wrath.  As they entered the small town she leapt into the air and landed on his back, effectively knocking and pining him to the ground.

"Ha!  That's what you get for dropping me!"  

Hayate groaned and then rose, sending Himeno rolling off his back.

"Well, come on then, let's go do what we came here to do."  He led the way into a bulk food store. 

Since the town was more of a refueling station most of the stores sold their produce in bulk; people would buy enough food for a month or two and take it back to cabins in the woods.  Apparently they were expected, because when Himeno told the shopkeeper her name and mission he pointed to a large number of boxes stacked in the corner of the shop.

"Yep, every year the councilors come down here, hehe, they always find out they've got no food and panic, but of course its always here waiting for them.  The camp should leave a note or something.  Well, it's all yours, it's been paid for in advance so you can take it."  The storekeeper sauntered off to help another customer.  Himeno and Hayate stared at the pile.

"Ah, but _can_ we.  How _did_ you plan to get the food back to camp anyway, Himeno?  You knew we would need a lot…"  Hayate raised his eyebrows, waiting for some explanation or plan.

"Ah… A hahahahahaha…  I don't know."  Himeno slumped to the ground, muttering under her breath.

"What was that?"  Hayate pounced.

"I SAID, 'I didn't really think about it.'"  Himeno slumped further, if it was possible, and fiddled with her fingers.

"Ah.  Well, we had better think of something.  Come on, help me get this outside.  Hayate picked up a few stacked boxes and walked out.  Himeno stared after him.

"You aren't going to make fun of me?"  Himeno smiled at the retreating figure of the knight.

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By the time they had stacked the whole pile a ways off into the forest it became apparent that Hayate had some sort of plan.  Himeno sat on a box and waited for him to explain.  

"I think that I can get all of this to the camp in a few trips.  It's simple, see," he picked up a box and disappeared, reappearing next to Himeno who fell off of her box and head first into another, reemerging with flour all over her head.  She glared at the laughing Hayate.

"Fine, but the first time you take me.  We'll 'appear', or whatever, on the roof to be sure no one sees us, and  I'll keep guard in the mess hall.  You can drop them all off there, it won't be safe to come into the forest since the kids are hiking who knows where.  I hope everyone planned before they went off into the forest."  She would have gone on, but Hayate grabbed her wrist and before she knew it they were standing on the roof of the mess hall.  Himeno screeched and slid towards the edge of the roof, falling to her knees and stopping herself just in time.  The compound below was empty.  She lay down flat and hung her head over the side, looking upside-down into the windows.  No one there either.  Dropping down she walked in, and then back out, giving Hayate a thumbs up.  He disappeared.

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An hour earlier, just after Hayate and Himeno left…

Kei and Goh stared at the oldest kids who were running amok, trying to split off and run into the woods in all different directions.  Kei sighed and dropped his face into his hands while Goh stared after them.

"Geez, they're even worse than the kids," Goh was, of course, thinking of Mannen, Hajime and Shin.  Kei's voice answered, muffled slightly.

"All kids are annoying, but these ones are uncontrollably so."  

Yayoi and Takako were having an easier time with their children, they had banded together and so the three youngest years set off into the woods to look for flowers and snails.  With Takako taking the lead and Yayoi at the end they effectively quashed any ideas the kids might have entertained towards escaping.  Mostly though, they were interested in bugs, something Yayoi wasn't incredibly thrilled with.

Sasame herded his children in the opposite direction from the younger ones at their request ("who wants to hang out with _little kids_?  _We_'re grown–up!"  "They're so geek-y") and they were looking, he assumed, for some larger form of animal life to torment, perhaps a squirrel or rabbit.  They wouldn't find any, a small sound vibration from Sasame while he pretended to tie his shoe had doubtlessly scared them away from certain death.  

Having pried a nine-year old down from a tree Kei led his merry little group out of the clearing, when the ten-year olds started pestering his kids he decided it was time to shove off.  They headed into the trees towards the top of the hill that the camp was built on.  Goh watched them go for a minute before being forced to run after and separate another pair of kids.  In the end he practically had to prod his kids in front of him to get them out of the camp.  Really, who wants to go and hike in nature when they can destroy cabins instead?  

The woods proved to be surprisingly interesting, even though most of the animal life had either heard the kids thrashing through the underbrush on their own or had been aided by the knights giving them surreptitious hints (Goh figured that every animal was smart enough to run from a forest fire…) and cleared out, the flowers amused the younger kids and the prospect of climbing the trees, or hanging off their councilors, appealed to the older ones.  

Goh jogged through the sun filled woods, sighing at the peace.  Not for long.  A crash in the underbrush alerted him to his followers and he turned his head.  Sure enough, all fifty kids were sprinting after him, slingshots in hand.  Goh gave a cry and shot off into the trees.  The kids followed him like dogs on a fox.

Kei worked his way through the woods, two kids attached, limpit-like, to each leg.  Another two hung off his torso and one had latched itself onto his left arm.  He limped through the trees towards what he _really_ hoped was something interesting, anything, as long as it was more interesting than him.

Sasame was faring better with the eight-year olds, they were happy with playing "hind and go seek" in the woods.  Sasame had been a little worried with this idea, he was sure there were horror stories about camp councilors loosing all their children in situations such as this, and then having to go face the angry parents,  but he had decided in the end that it was preferable to what Goh seemed to be doing (he ran past them every once in a while, chased by his group who seemed to have turned into mad cannibals), and if he had to, he could always hear them out.  

The two girls, after spending almost two hours in the woods, returned to the camp with their kids who were too exhausted to cause trouble.  They found Himeno and Hayate in the kitchen, making a scene.

"I _told_ you we should have make sandwiches!"  Himeno pointed in exasperation at a pancake stuck to the roof, threatening to fall at any minute.  Hayate turned around from the oven where he had been flipping, another pancake stuck to his face.  Himeno burst out laughing and dropped a carton of milk which splattered everywhere, including onto her shorts.  Himeno dropped her head down.  Hayate laughed, muffled as it was by the breakfast food he had managed to stick on his head. 

Takako walked into the kitchen and crossed her arms.  The ceiling pancake fell but Takako side-stepped it.  Himeno, startled by her presence, whipped around but slipped in the spilt milk and went flying back into Hayate, who was making another attempt at flipping.  She slammed into his back, causing his arms to shoot up over his head, pan and all.  The pancake came flying out with the force of a cannon ball.  Takako hit the dirt but Yayoi, who was behind her, was not so lucky.  The small missile hit her head on before slipping down, leaving a red circular indent on her face.  For a second everyone stood (or, in Takako's case, lay) where they were, before simultaneously bursting out in laughter.  

In the forest somewhere rang out the plaintive cry of Sasame.

"One, two, three…"

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Well, there's chapter eight.  I wanted to finish it, 'cause I don't have very much free time this week, so I thought it better to make it short and get it out soon rather than long and have it out who knows when.  Hope you enjoyed!  Thanks to the people who reviewed!


	4. The Old Fashioned Way

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear or any of the characters.  Please don't sue me.

AN: So sorry to take so long with this chapter, but I've been busier than I've ever been in my _life_!  Plays really eat up your time, ne?  But it was a great experience (I played in the orchestra pit for our school play).  And hey, to make up, here's a long chapter for you guys!  Hope you enjoy!  

Just a small note, when this:

…

Happens (unless it's in someone's speech), it's indicating time passing but no change of scene (or characters).  You'll understand when you get there…  Okay, now you can enjoy!

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Sasame walked through the forest alone.  Looking under every large fern or fallen log he passed, he slowly made his way further out into the forest, although he wasn't paying attention to it.  As he had feared, one of the kids had run off and not returned, he was now either lost or hurt somewhere, and Sasame shuddered to think what Takako and Himeno would do to him if he returned without the child.  Listening to the sounds around him he could hear the rest of his kids back at the camp, as well as the other groups.  And farther away he could hear a soft sobbing sound.  That had to be the missing kid.  It was then that Sasame stopped and realized something.  Although he could hear and manipulate sound, he couldn't _locate_ it, he could only judge distance.  The sound pictures were no help either, he could not see what made no sound, and so the trail in between him and the lost child was non-existent, as the forest was silent.

Sasame frowned and continued on through the ferns.

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At the camp, Goh's group had just come running in, Goh surrounded by children with their sling-shots all pointed directly at him.   The other knights managed to pursued the kids that no, Goh wasn't going to escape.  While Kei stood guard on Goh, Hayate and Mawata, who had woken up at last, led the children into the mess hall.  Once the kids were out of earshot, Kei let go of Goh's shoulder (which he had been forced to grab to convince the children that their leader wouldn't be able to simply dash off and outrun the smaller man) and rolled his eyes.

"What have I always said about kids?  I wonder if Sasame's managed to tree his.  He's not back yet, although his wards are."  Kei indicated some children with an uninterested wave of his hand.  Goh turned to see and nodded.

"Yeah, they're his alright, ours would have been murdering each other by now.  Should we go look for him?" Goh made a fist and looked around seriously.  Kei laughed.

"I don't think Sasame would have gotten lost.  He was probably just smart enough to escape for a while.  Speaking of which…" Kei turned around to fearfully watch the troop of kids sneaking up on him and the Knight of Fire with handfuls of mud.  

"Maybe now would be a good time to be going."  

Goh turned to see what the matter was and instantly sprinted off, using Kei as a platform to push off of.  As the Knight of Fire went sprinting in one direction the Knight of Light fell comically sideways onto the ground where he was promptly trampled by the herd of children chasing after their escaped leader.

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Sasame was sure he was getting close.  The sounds of crying had gotten louder, he could hear them without focusing his powers now, which meant the kid was within the hearing range of a normal person (or so he assumed).  Just over there… yes, there he was!  The child was sitting curled up against the trunk of a tree, knees pulled up into chest, crying into his arms.  Sasame felt a tingle of guilt as he approached the pitiful form.

"It's alright.  I'm here.  Come one, don't worry, I'll take you back to camp."  The child startled, but his scared expression soon turned to one of happiness as he recognized his councilor.  Sasame pulled the child to his feet and headed into the woods.

Sasame walked around for more than a few minutes before he came to another realization: he had no idea where he was going.  The trees all looked the same, and the undergrowth of the forest was so thick that he couldn't see any sign of where he had been.  The trees were beginning to grow dark, he could still see clearly but in an hour, maybe less, that wouldn't be the case.  A blanket of cold and dampness seemed to drop over the entire forest, leaving Sasame and an eight year old boy out lost in the cold.

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In the camp panic was beginning to set in with the darkness.  The kids had eaten their dinners and, tired from the day's exertion, gone into their cabins with minimal whining, leaving the councilors sitting in their cabin, one member short.  No one spoke as they all looked at Sasame's empty bunk.  Takako, her eyes wide and her face slightly more pale than usual, finally walked over to Hayate.

"Where's Sasame?  Why isn't he back yet?"  Her eyes were wide with unspoken fear and worry.  Hayate shrugged, but expanded on his gesture after receiving a glare from Himeno.

"He must be lost in the woods.  His kids say that he went to look for a lost one, and since he hasn't come back yet he's either still looking or he's found the kid and can't find his way back."  Hayate stood abruptly, startling Takako away, and leaned assuredly against a bunk post.

"Either way, I guess we'd better think of something to do about it."  'We can't just leave the kid out there alone.'  Hayate continued his sentence in his head.  He knew he would be reprimanded for his lack of concern regarding Sasame should he speak aloud, and right now he just couldn't deal with it.  The cold mist was creeping in through the boards of the cabin, making him feel cold and damp, a feeling he didn't like.  The Wind Knight had the urge to call a huge gust of wind to blow through the entire camp and carry the annoying dampness away, but he knew that Himeno would yell at him, and it would just make him colder anyway.  But how would Sasame and the kid feel, stuck out in the woods somewhere in the cold.  He couldn't leave them there, however tempting it was sometimes to just leave Sasame to his own devices.  Oh, he didn't hate the Knight of Sound for switching sides, for abandoning them, for turning traitor on all the Leafe Knights stood for, or even for hurting him or the others (after all, he had never intentionally hurt _Himeno_.)  But Hayate had been deeply troubled by the thought that Sasame's abandonment had brought to him- would he turn against all he knew, all he believed in, out of love for just one person.  And if he wouldn't, did that mean he didn't really love her after all?  Was Sasame stronger, smarter, _purer_ than him?  Somehow he managed to convey that, at least to Hayate.  And it annoyed the Wind Knight, annoyed him constantly, just a little nagging thought at the back of his mind.

Still, now wasn't the time to be comparing himself to Sasame.  Now was the time to be finding Sasame.  And Hayate had a feeling that Goh was going to say something…

"Call him, baka."  Goh hadn't even bothered to stand up to offer his advice.  He wasn't very worried about the current situation now, for the simple reason that he was sure he had the answer.  He pretended to ignore the confused looks that the humans in the group gave him, and smirked internally.  Hayate was on the spot now.

"Baka yourself.  I tried that two hours ago.  It doesn't work here, I can't send my signal through the Earth, we are not connected to it.  It only works in Leafenia."  Hayate rolled his eyes at Goh while the other knight mumbled under his breath.  Himeno threw herself into the conversation to avoid an argument.

"Oi!  Obviously magic or whatever isn't going to work here, and besides, if Sasame has found the child, he wouldn't be able to use magic in front of him.  We'll have to do this the old fashioned way!"  Himeno pulled a sweater on over her top.  "Yoshi!  We'll split up into groups, someone should stay here to alert us if they come back."  Himeno looked around.  It couldn't be one of the knights, they were needed for flying (it was dark enough now that the child wouldn't see them, she hoped), so that left Mawata, Yayoi or Takako.  She was about to pick when Yayoi stuck her hand up.

"I'll do it!  I want to finish my new novel, Love or Death at Midnight, SO romantic!  Ken-san is about to ask-"  She didn't finish her sentence as Himeno cut her off.

"Okay!  You'll have to be able to tell us if they come back though…"  Himeno trailed off as Mawata walked under the blanket barrier and returned with a backpack, from which she began to pull cell phones.

"Okaasan insisted I bring these in case I needed to call her, and she thought I'd better bring a few in case one or two broke…"  

The group sweatdropped as they watched her pull out 6 phones one by one.  

"They're all on each other's speed dial, just press # and 1."  She lined them up neatly on the floor.  Himeno nodded, eyes wide.

"That was very smart of Okaasan, ne?  But," her eyes began shining again, "let's get organized!  It'll be quicker if we fly, so each group will have one knight.  Who wants to go with who?"  Himeno absently noted that Hayate stepped closer to her as she watched Takako grab Goh, as he was the closest to her, and a cell phone, then stop by the door, tapping her foot impatiently.  That left Mawata with Kei, and herself with… Hayate.  Himeno blushed for a minute before pulling herself together.

"Okay, can we go?"  

Takako opened the door, only to groan as Hayate spoke.

"Wait.  We should put up a signal at least, so Sasame can find us if we can't find him.  Kei?"  

The Knight of Light nodded, and Hayate and Goh ran out of the cabin and into separate cabins.  They went from cabin to cabin closing windows, shutters and doors, under the pretense of lights-out check.  The others watched from the 'parade ground' in the middle of the camp.  When they had been to all cabins Kei nodded and launched himself into the air silently, landing on their own cabin roof.  There he formed a small ball of light in his hand and left it hanging in the sky before leaping to the next roof and performing the same 'trick', leaving a ball of light on top of each cabin roof to light up the clearing.  Finished, he returned to the ground.  

Hayate nodded, pocketed a cell phone (he and Himeno each took one, as did Kei, Mawata and Takako, leaving one for Yayoi.  Hayate really didn't know why his group and Kei's would need two, but they might as well make use of them.) and grabbed Himeno's wrist, launching the two of them off into the air.  Kei could have sword he heard Himeno tell Hayate to watch out for trees.  Takako took initiative for Goh, worried nearly to death about Sasame, and grabbed his wrist.  His was easily bigger than hers though, and he had to take hold of her minute wrist before he felt safe to slowly levitate in the air and float off in a direction opposite from Hayate and Himeno.  Kei could also hear Takako reprimanding Goh for flying so slowly.

Turning to Mawata, he held out his hand.  She stared at it uncomprehendingly (apparently she hadn't watched the other two take off).  He sighed and reached down, taking her left wrist in his right hand.  Pushing off easily he dragged her behind him through the air, flying faster so that she wouldn't be hanging down at a 90 degree angle from him-which would doubtless be painful- and instead was supported by the air next to him.  Mawata's eyes shot wide with wonder as she watched the trees fly by beneath them in the last rays of sun.  Kei didn't watch her for long though, flying low just over the tops of the trees instead and peering down into them.  She quickly followed suit. 

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Sasame was cold and hungry, a sentiment that was obviously felt by his young charge as well.  The child had cried for a while while his stomach rumbled and he tripped over roots and ferns, but finally Sasame had picked him up and now walked carrying the boy in his arms against his chest, his own warmth keeping the boy warm.

The light was now all but gone and he was walking with one arm outstretched- he had learned that one the hard way, and he was sure that the imprint of that tree was still on his nose- and his hearing faculties on full power so as to avoid any large swaying bows or the like.  Still, he was in effect walking blind.  And his light shirt and pants were doing nothing to protect him from either the forest or the climate.  

Finally he stopped and, with his free hand, reached into his pocket looking for something.

----------------------------------------------------------

Takako squinted hard into the trees passing below her.  Goh's humming was beginning to annoy her, but she knew that the large knight didn't mean to bother and besides, one look at his face showed that he was worried as well.  That was probably the only reason she hadn't smacked him yet.  Takako was beginning to regret grabbing Goh as her ride, he didn't seem to notice tree tops until he had run her into them, and the humming interspersed with cursing wasn't that pleasant either.  Although the flame haired knight was really a large clumsy kitten, he had the foulest mouth she had ever had the displeasure to listen to.

The trees below were dark as pitch, and Takako really hoped that Sasame would do something to distinguish himself from them, or else it was almost certain they wouldn't find him before morning.  'Sasame, where are you?'  

…

Goh had been silent for several minutes, and Takako was about to question him when he spoke.

"Fire."  

Takako shrunk away (well, as far as she could shrink when he was holding her wrist).  A while earlier he had wanted to start a fire to, as he said 'lure the baka to us'  Takako had quashed that idea, since the obvious reaction of anyone who saw a fire was to run away, and so they would never find Sasame.  And besides, she didn't want to be responsible for a forest fire.

"Goh, we talked about this.  No fire, remember?" 

"No, fire, there."  He pointed ahead to where a small orange light was flickering between the trees, barely visible.  Takako didn't think she would have seen it herself, it was so small, but Goh _was_ the Fire Knight, after all.  'Sasame!'

Goh shot ahead and landed a few trees away from the light, dropping Takako into a pile of ferns inadvertently.  At her growl he sweatdropped and apologized.  She leapt out of the ferns and towards the light, when it fell to the ground and went out.  She plunged ahead anyways and ran smack into a body, which grunted and fell backwards, hitting a tree with an ugly thud.  Takako landed in a bush, and felt a small weight on her.  She sat up and felt the person who had fallen on her, a small child.  He groaned slightly and snorted, a clear sign that he was asleep.  A good thing too, as Goh came running holding a fire ball in his right hand ready to throw.  With its light they were able to see that she was sitting with an eight year old in her lamp and an unconscious Sasame lying a few feet away with a burnt fern and a pack of matches lying next to him.  She squirmed out from under the child (shoving him Goh's way, she thought) and crawled over to Sasame.  Takako shook the knight's shoulder, but his head only rolled forwards and backwards, it did not take on any life of its own.  

"Sasame?  Sasame?  Sasame?!?"  She put her head on his chest (it was so cold!) and was relieved to feel a heartbeat.  She put her hand on his forehead, it wasn't hot, but his bangs were slicked to it, soaked from the wetness of the forest.  The teenager pulled Sasame against her, hugging him and shaking him as she rocked back and forth.  Goh shot a flame up in the air and then pulled out his cell phone.

----------------------------------------------------------

Kei and Mawata circled over the trees, staring down into the darkness.  Mawata had been alright at first, but the perpetual darkness was beginning to scare her.  It seemed like it was closing around her, cutting off her air, chocking her, driving her down to her knees…

Mawata gave a small squeak and pulled at her throat, pulling and fighting against Kei's hand on her wrist, punching and hitting at Kei's arm unintentionally, unaware of what she was doing, of anything except the darkness closing in.  She didn't hear Kei calling her, reassuring her, telling her to calm down and breath.  Her pupils shrunk, her colour vanished leaving her white as a sheet.  She alternately reached for her throat or struck out at the arm stopping her other hand from moving.  When she began to scratch at her throat Kei finally took a hand, grabbing her other wrist with his free hand.  She struggled and wormed away from him, trying to free her arms.  He was afraid he would hurt her, if she didn't stop struggling soon he would certainly bruise her wrists.

'It must be the dark, she's still afraid of the dark.'  Kei looked up around him.  The clouds covered the stars, and no light other than his lights at camp was visible.  Planes flew above the cloud line, so he'd be safe…  Landing in a thick area he surrounded it with light easily, sustaining it and waiting for her to react.  Slowly Mawata's eyes returned to normal and she began to breath properly, in large deep breaths.  

"Are you okay, Mawata-san?"  He let her go in a quick motion and cocked his head slightly, watching her, the concern in his eyes hiding behind fake amusement.  Mawata blushed slightly and nodded, her short hair falling over her eyes.

"Mm.  I'm okay now.  I'm sorry, I just don't really like the dark sometimes.  Can you, can you stop doing that?  It's starting to hurt my eyes."  

It took Kei a minute to realize that she meant his light, after which he let it vanish slowly and took her wrist again.

"Is your wrist okay?  I'm sorry, I think I might have hurt it…"  

Mawata shrugged and he brought them up into the sky again.  A few seconds later a flame shot up out of the trees nearby.  Kei flew over to it as both their cell phones began to ring.  Mawata answered hers, giving an affirmation noise and then listened.  Again she made an understanding noise and shut the phone.

"Goh and Takako-san have found them.  That was Goh with the fire.  The child is asleep, so it's safe to land.  Sasame's hurt."  

Kei glanced at her sharply before shooting off towards the flame's origin, the speed making it impossible for Mawata to even see any individual tree.  A second later they were falling through the trees before stopping and floating to the ground.  Mawata ran to Goh and the sleeping child he was staring at while Kei migrated to Takako.  He reached around her embrace and felt at the white-haired knight's neck.  There was a pulse.  Just tired then?  If that was it, why wouldn't he wake up?  Kei was startled out of his thoughts as Takako grabbed one of his pants legs.

"Do something!  Please!"  Tears ran down her face as she alternated her looks of worry and pleading between Sasame and the others respectively.  Goh picked up the child in his arms easily, but this left the problem of Takako.  He walked over.

"You're going to have to hang on on your own, Takako-san, I've got my hands full.  C'mon now."  He turned around and knelt on the ground, indicating that she should get on his back.  Takako shoved Sasame to Kei and did as Goh asked, too distressed to argue.  

Kei picked Sasame up, balancing him carefully over his shoulders and holding him with one arm.  He held out the other to Mawata, who put out her wrist for him to grab.  Goh was already in the air, hovering impatiently, Takako staring over his shoulder.  Kei joined them and the two headed off for the camp.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Hayate and Himeno flew alone over the forest, staring down at the dark.

"Ne, Hayate, you _will_ watch out for trees, won't you?"  Himeno smirked.  Hayate turned to look at her and dropped her.  Himeno shrieked as she plummeted towards the ground, but Hayate grabbed her again before she even reached the trees.

"You should be more respectful, Tulip-head!"

"BAKA!"  Himeno took a swing at him but missed by a mile, due to a sudden gust of wind that blew her out of range of Hayate.  She glared at him.

"That was unfair."

"It's unfair of me to protect myself?  I think you need some new morals, Tulip-head."  

"ARG!"

…

"Ne, Hayate, do you think that we passed that rock a while ago?"

"Quiet!"

…

"Y'know, that rock is really starting to look familiar…"

…

"Hayate, just admit it, we've been going in circles, haven't we."

…

*ring*

Himeno picked up the phone while glaring at the silent Hayate.  

"Mm… Okay… Well, you see, hey, don't hang-…  They found Sasame and the kid.  Sasame's hurt, the kid's asleep.  Unfortunately, we missed Goh's signal, so I have no idea where they are.  Do you, Mr. We're not going in circles?"

…

About an hour later Hayate, exhausted by the flying, landed on the rock.  He just couldn't seem to find the camp again.  'Kei must have turned the lights out.  Why would he do a thing like that?!?'  Himeno slid limply to the ground, having tired herself out by chattering on about something or the other the whole time they had been 'searching'.  Of course, they were now searching for the camp, not the lost knight and child.  Himeno pulled her legs up into her chest and rested her forehead on them.  She was so cold.  She supposed that being so high up must be why it was so cold.  Or maybe it was just a fluke of nature.  Either way, she was freezing.  Hayate was probably around sulking somewhere.  She began to shiver, her hair wet and her clothes damp, and she tried to pull herself into a tighter ball but it was to no avail.  The cold seeped through all the same. 

Hayate stalked around the rock, disgusted with himself for his lack of directional sense.  He pulled the coat he had hastily donned before they left tighter around his shoulders.  It was a little chilly and the dampness was still bothering him, but he had bigger things to worry about.  Like Himeno.  He looked over to her, to see her sitting all drawn up into the tightest ball she could possibly pull herself into, and still shivering badly.  His eyes widened and in an instant he was behind her, pulling off his coat silently and wrapping it around her.  She jumped nearly a foot in the air and turned around, sending the coat flying, to look Hayate right in the eye.

"What?"  She saw the coat lying on the ground and picked it up, brushed it off and handed it to him.  "This is yours?"

"You have it.  I'm not cold."  He turned his back on her and walked a ways away, giving her no choice but to keep it.  She hesitated for a second before pulling it around her.  It was still warm with his heat.  Himeno blushed slightly before sitting down on the ground again.  The rock was freezing, but if she stood the wind froze her legs instead.  She pulled the coat around her tighter and curled up, lying on the rock.  Sniffing slightly she rubbed her hands together, she was loosing the feeling in them.  'C'mon, Himeno, it's not that cold!'  Still, she couldn't seem to warm up.  Still sniffing she felt her eyelids begin to drop, noting before they did that it was unusual for her to be able to see her breath in the summer, wasn't it?

Hayate wandered around, staying within sight of the rock, but far enough that Himeno wouldn't be able to come and return his coat.  If she got sick because he had the navigational skills of a potato, he didn't know what he'd do, but he was sure he would blame himself forever just to start out with.  Upon returning to the rock a while later-it had gotten very cold for a summer night, he could see his breath now- he found Himeno lying curled up on the rock, face pale, lips blue and breath coming out in small gasps.  Hayate uttered a quiet curse and ran to her, pulling her up.

"Himeno!  Himeno!  Wake up!"  He shook her, and was glad to see her eyes open sleepily.

"Hayate?  Mmm, whaddya want?"  She fell back, supported only by his arms.  He shook her more.

"No, stay awake Himeno.  Himeno?"  The eyes opened more this time, although the thick lashes seemed to be trying to fall back down, and the pink bangs kept falling in their way.

"'S cold, Hayate."  She shivered as if to accent her words.  Hayate's eyes filled with concern.  Acting purely on impulse he pulled her closer, sitting her in his lap, and wrapped his arms all the way around her, leaning his head on hers.  She looked up blearily before curling into him more and going back to sleep.  Hayate let her stay there for a while before finally sighing and picking her up, making sure to wrap his jacket around her tightly, and then taking off into the sky again.  

Far to his left a large light and a ball of fire hovered above the tree line for nearly a minute before falling.  He put his speed into going there, and half a minute later was rewarded with a smaller and shorter burst of fire and light.  Another one, only a few seconds long this time, pinpointed the camp's location for him.  He landed in to open space to find an exhausted Goh and Kei leaning against the councilor's cabin, ready to send up one last flair.  With Hayate's appearance they crawled back into the cabin, too tired to even ask about the sleeping girl in his arms.

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So, whaddya think?  I'd love it if people reviewed and told me.  Or you could email me at athena_crikey@hotmail.com .  Thanks to all those who have already reviewed or emailed!  And to ~* chibi windy *~ , I tried to reply but my emails don't get through…  

Baka- Idiot.  It is also somewhat vulgar, so you shouldn't really use it…

Okaasan- Mother


	5. Storm Front

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear, or any of the characters, please don't sue me...  
  
AN: We're trying a new strategy for ff.net here. Whenever I post .htm files on it, I end up with really big spaces in between the paragraphs (which I could probably correct if I HTMLed it manually, but I'm too lazy...), so this will be a .txt file, which means no more italics. Things in _underscores_ will represent italics. If you would like to read it with italics and without the weird spacing, you can find it on my fanfiction site Rakuen: http://ctech.ca/Athena_Crikey/ff/   
  
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The next day Sasame woke up with a splitting headache (vaguely reminiscent of his first bout with sake) and very sore limbs. The previous night was something of a blur, but he was very certain on one point, his awareness had ended with him being bashed into a tree trunk. Naturally, this idea was a little disturbing, and so as he pulled himself from the bunk that he had awoken to find himself in, he held his hands in front of him, looking ready to blast any attackers into next Sunday. The only reason he was doing this was because he was sure he had read at some point that a large majority of attackers will be frightened off if you can simply appear to be dangerous in your own right, a tactic which was, should he run into some evil-doer, his only hope of survival since he was sure that in his state he couldn't call up anything more powerful than a spoon-bending *ping*, and he had seen Goh bend spoons in just one hand (and then be rebuked for it, as Sasame was the one in charge of cutlery replacement).   
  
So it was that Sasame, stalking around in very torn and dirty shorts and shirt (hadn't he started out in pants? Sasame shuddered to think what plant was eating the bottom of his sweats now) with a robe tied over them, ran straight into Takako, who was evidently not a morning person. Sasame was slow in discovering this and ended up on the floor with coffee spilt all down his front.   
  
Takako was understandably upset at finding her boyfriend (who had had to be dragged in from the forest the previous night unconscious and injured) on the floor with _her_ coffee all over him. Now she would have to go all the way across the yard (which was an extreme hazard as it was filled with hyperactive children), make another pot and probably clean up the mess Sasame had caused. Takako sighed and looked down at him, eyelids lowered, producing a rather evil stare. Sasame let his head drop back onto the floor, coffee running into his white hair.   
  
"Could you maybe assist me with my problem here?" Sasame motioned at his hair, and then his shirt. Takako tapped her foot.  
  
"That's right. It's _YOUR_ problem. Caused by _YOU_. Who spilt _MY_ morning coffee? _YOU_ Would you care to guess whose fault that makes this?"  
  
"Mine?"  
  
"Oh, very good," Takako sighed and bent down, "well, c'mon then. I guess you won't be counseling today. Along with Himeno. Maybe you guys had this all worked out ahead of time. Maybe it's all a plot. An evil plot. To make me work in the mornings. Without coffee." Takako glared at Sasame, who sighed.  
  
"You're really not a morning person, are you?"  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
True to Takako's word, Himeno was indeed not doing any counseling. This was because she was asleep in a bed with quite a few blankets draped over her (which had come about the previous night when Hayate had returned with her and promptly taken the blankets of the other three knights, threatening to leave anyone who complained in charge of his group of kids), still dreaming. Every now and then Hayate would lead his hyperactive kids over underneath her window to check on her. The kids were playing follow the leader, so they didn't notice. It also meant that Hayate only got a brief glance, because if he stopped for any longer they were all on top of him.  
  
Kei was running around, frantically trying to keep an eye on both his and Sasame's charges. He had considered asking one of the girls for help, but as it was Takako was already on her own, and Yayoi wasn't much help with anything (she was daydreaming about the romance novel due to come out next month, and thus had only one foot in reality) which meant that Mawata was also fairly alone in looking after her kids. This left Kei with around a hundred kids to look after, and he was already exhausted after last night. He had considered asking either Hayate or Goh to help, but the look Goh was giving him told him that the Fire Knight would die before he helped out with a hundred potential Mannins, and Hayate had no wish to surrender a job that gave him access to Himeno's window. Kei winced as a kid ran up behind him and launched himself onto the Light Knight's shoulders, grabbing on to the ponytail and flipping it backwards so it hung the way gravity intended. He then tried to use it as a swinging vine. For the fiftieth time that day, Kei reminded himself that no, he did not want to strangle any of them.   
  
Goh was surprised to see one of his kids trying to sneak off into the woods- hadn't they learned _anything_ from last night?- but cut him off before he got into the trees.   
  
"Hey! What're you doin'? You could get lost in there." Goh steered the child back towards the center of the camp.  
  
"Aw, hi Goh-san! I just wanted to put this snake back before the other kids smushed it! See!" The child held out a snake that was, Goh estimated, almost three feet long. He backed away, a bluish streak starting to cover his nose.  
  
"Ahh-ah, I see. Okay, that's great, but why don't you just put, put it down there. That's a good boy." Goh backed away, keeping both of his eyes firmly on the slimy little- no, no, the snake, not the boy.  
  
The boy smiled benignly and thrust his hands out, pushing the snake towards Goh.  
  
"You wanna see it? It's really cool!" He pushed the snake (who by that time was getting rather irritable) towards the Fire Knight, ignoring the Knight's quick steps away from the snake. The boy, in stepping unconsciously after his councilor, tripped and went flying towards him; the snake curled up preparing to strike. Goh caught the child, and then neatly sidestepped as the snake struck, the snake's own momentum carrying it out of the boy's hand and onto the ground. Goh quickly picked the boy up and danced back towards the camp, taking care not to put hit feet within the snake's range. He had no idea if it was poisonous, but if it had tried to take a piece out of him, _it_ obviously thought it was.   
  
They returned to the camp, and Goh (after letting the kid down) approached Hayate and Kei, who were sitting on a bench leaning against each other in an attempt not to collapse.  
  
"New rule: no snakes."  
  
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Himeno woke up in a warm bed, yawned, and rolled over to go back to sleep.   
  
She woke up a second time, yawned, shrugged, and went back to sleep.  
  
The third time, she opened her eyes and peered blearily around, looking for whatever kept waking her up. Her eyes landed on the window, outside of which kids were running around and shouting. Himeno glared at the window. Whoever had let children out in the middle of the night to make a ruckus was going to regret it later. Then a thought came to her: if it was night, how could she see the silhouettes of children running around outside the window (through the curtains)? That meant-  
  
"I'm late!" Himeno tumbled out of bed, and then regretted it, as the many blankets, pillows, and two books fell down on top of her. Groaning, she decided never to read in bed again, and then pulled herself over to where her clothes lay in a pile and shrugged a shirt and shorts on.   
  
Pulling the door open, Himeno stared out at a scene of pure chaos. Hayate was running around after some kid who appeared to have his hair clip, which would explain why the long dark hair was floating free behind him. Kei was batting at a child who was hanging to his hair, and was bent over nearly backwards with his weight. Goh was trying to paint with his children, which was the only explanation that Himeno could come up with for why he had red, yellow and blue paint all over his clothes, his face, and in his hair. Yayoi and Mawata were having more success with their kids, they all were sitting under a tree happily, until one of them held up something right in front of Mawata's face, causing her to drop a book and scream (which, Himeno noted before filing it away for further thought, bought her an anxious look from Kei). Takako sat on the ground, staring morbidly at her charges, obviously not in the best of moods. Sasame was nowhere to be seen, and perhaps Takako's mood had something to do with his absence.   
  
"Oh, that's right, we're at camp." Suddenly all was well with the world. Or at least, as well as it could be. Himeno made a bee-line for the bathroom. Entering the cabin that housed those particular facilities, Himeno ran smack dab into a large person (although most people are large when you're Himeno's height) dressed in white. It turned out to be Sasame, who emerged with wet hair looking rather ruffled. Himeno smiled at him.  
  
"I'm glad to see you're okay, Sasame!" She threw her arms around him in an over-exaggerated bear-hug. Sasame smiled easily, and tried not to drip on the pink-haired girl.   
  
Screams from outside cut off whatever reply Sasame might have had, and the two rushed out into the blazing sun. Or what had been blazing sun a few minutes ago. Instead of the bright sunlight, torrents of rain were pouring from the sky, instantly soaking anyone in their path. A crack of thunder sounded somewhere to the east, and a large number of the smaller boys screamed and crowded around their councilors. A streak of lightning lit up the sky a few miles away, followed closely by another crack of thunder. Almost all of the children ran for the safety of their cabins, but a small group also took off for the shelter of the forest, which was closer than the cabins to those ones, they were obviously following their first instincts: get out of the rain. Hayate, Goh and Kei were already sprinting into the woods after them, while the girls herded their charges into the cabins. Himeno ran after the retreating Hayate's figure, while Sasame went to help out with the younger kids- he had no wish to become lost in the forest for a second time in so many days.   
  
Himeno strode through the underbrush in the direction the three knights had taken, and managed to find three eight year olds, who she led back to camp. On her way back towards the forest after getting the kids to their cabins, she saw Goh running through the rain, four kids in tow. She had almost gotten back to the tree line again before a voice behind her called her back- Takako. The older woman was standing under one of the cabin roofs, calling her. Himeno sprinted over through the mud to her side, and spoke quickly, anxious to get under way.  
  
"A bunch of kids made a run for the forest when the rain started, we're going after them. You guys should stay here and look after the rest of them, I'm sure the littler ones are all scared of thunder and lightening, and we can't leave any of them unattended. We've got to find the ones in the woods before they get themselves lost, or struck by lightening or something. If were not back by nightfall, send out the troops!" Himeno smiled and dashed away before Takako could reply.   
  
----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
In the woods, Kei and Hayate were running together, leaping tall logs in a single bound, supporting truth, justice, and bed before nine. Hayate looked over at Kei.  
  
"How many left?"  
  
"About ten. Goh got some, and I think someone else was thrashing around back there. You think the others went this way?" Kei gestured to the direction in which they were running.  
  
"Probably. Looks like a stampede's been through here, or a bunch'a kids. Which is more likely? Anyway, we'd better get them fast, before a tree falls on them." Another bolt of lightening ripped through the sky, its thunder echoing it closely. "It's getting closer. Listen, what's that?" Hayate cocked his head to the side, listening above the rain and wind.  
  
"I don't know, do I look like Sasame?" Kei was not having the best day in the world, and the rain had turned his hair into a large mass that wanted desperately to fall in his eyes.  
  
"Water."  
  
"Yeah, the water that's turning my hair into a mop."  
  
"No, no, _running_ water. A river. And a big one."   
  
A few seconds later, Hayate was proven correct, as they ran out of the tree line and almost took a dive right into a river. Hayate turned up his lip, the river was full, both of water and rocks, no doubt it came down from the top of the mountain that the camp was situated on. If any of the kids fell in- Hayate's thoughts were cut off by just that occurrence.  
  
Both knights looked upstream and caught sight of the screaming children- two of Hayate's-being carried down the middle of the river. The serious rocks began only a few meters past the knights, once they hit them there would be no saving the kids. Unleashing an attack on a nearby tree, Hayate cut it to fall across the river. Kei was running up across it before it had even fallen. By the time the tree hit the water the kids had sailed by past it, but Kei managed to reach out and grab them by their collars, pulling himself almost off the tree trunk, as it was he was flipped onto his back, holding on with his knees. In such a position it was hard to stop the water from making its way into his eyes, ears, nose and mouth.  
  
Hayate moved to help Kei, but immediately the current began to pull the tree away with it, and Hayate was forced to call up a continuous blast of wind to stop it.   
  
Time seemed to slow down as the knight and two children thrashed around in the water, while Hayate tried to keep their only protection from the rocks from slipping away. A sound to his right caused the Wind Knight to look around, and was somewhat surprised to see Himeno running towards him, her face lighting up when she caught sight of him. It darkened almost immediately though, when she spotted the log. She had almost reached his side when a monumental cracking sound tore his gaze away from her and back to the log. The strain had been too great, and it was snapping right after the point that he had been holding back with the wind. Kei lost his grip and would have been carried away, children and all, if Himeno hadn't run up onto the log and grabbed his left ankle. She tried to pull them back towards the shore, but their combined weight added to the current made that impossible, and she was pulled into the water. Hayate, abandoning his failed strategy, sprinted up along the cracking log and grabbed Himeno's free hand. It was another failing plan, though, as he lost his balance on the shifting log and plunged into the water.   
  
Pulling against the current, Hayate managed to get a hold of Kei's shoulder (who, since he was no longer forced to lie flat out on his back had manage to right himself in the chilling water and was attempting to pull the children back up stream), and together the two knights formed a shield around themselves, Himeno and the two children, so that when they reached the rocks two seconds later they bounced off like an overly large bouncy balls (or maybe one of those large cage balls that Himeno had seen on an American show about Gladiators). The children stared in wonder at the large ball of light and wind that was protecting them, and then at the two knights who had, unconsciously, switched to their battle garb. The children's jaws dropped about a foot, Himeno estimated, as she buried her eyes in her hands. A flash of lightening, a crack of thunder, and a torrent of hail rounded off their trip through the rapids.  
  
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Back at camp, the three girls and Sasame had gathered in their cabin, staring miserably out at the storm. It was already four in the afternoon- the storm had broken out at around one- and the now hail showed no signs of abating.  
  
"Don't you think we should go out and look for them?" Mawata stared out at the dark skies.  
  
"Maybe, but do you _really_ want to go out in that storm?" Takako gestured out the window.  
  
"No..."  
  
"Well then, I guess we'll just have to wait a while."  
  
"How romantic! Trapped somewhere out in the hail storm, Hayate and Himeno are probably tucked up in a cave, learning more about each other, gently-" Yayoi was cut off by the stares of everyone else in the room. Finally Sasame spoke.  
  
"Yeees, or maybe they're stuck out there with Kei, Goh and a bunch of soaking kids who want to be fed."  
  
"Spoilsport."  
  
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Goh wandered around in the woods. Surely this had been the way Hayate and Kei had gone? But it was hard to tell in the storm, and the slippery ground underfoot was not helping. Finally tripping on a large root, Goh found himself in a large hollow tree trunk. A flash of lightening revealed the many other occupants of the tree trunk.   
  
A mob of snakes.  
  
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Safely on shore a few miles down, the five river rafters collapsed on the hard dirt, ignoring the hail stones until they became too annoying. Another crack of thunder, and Himeno cocked her head.  
  
"Did you guys hear something?"   
  
"No."  
  
"Funny. I thought I heard a scream. Must have been the storm." Himeno shrugged.  
  
"Hey, Kei-san?"   
  
Kei looked down at the child, his eyes half closed in exhaustion.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Why're you wearing tights?"   
  
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That's all for chapter 5. I'm going on vacation, so there won't be any more chapters of anything until a week or two into August... Have a good summer break everyone, and once again, thanks for the reviews! 


	6. Snakes in the Storm

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear, or any of the characters. Please don't sue me (whoa, I've got this disclaimer thing down to a fine art!)  
  
AN: Wow, for a fic I was afraid I might loose interest in, this one's going really strong!  
  
Umm, I actually did more research for this chapter then I've ever done for any fic, on the topic of Japanese snakes. I have been unable to find out whether there are in fact constrictor (strangling) snakes in Japan, although I _have_ found out that there are many many types of large poisonous ones... O.o;;; Still, our snake could just be exhibiting normal snake "I don't want to fall off of this" behavior, which Kei mistakes for strangling attempts, should it prove that there aren't constrictors in Japan.  
  
And, as always, you can find an .html version of this fic at my fanfiction site Rakuen (http://ctech.ca/Athena_Crikey/ff/) Actually, on that topic, I have been informed that that link doesn't work (although it works for me and my friends). If that is the case, try: http://members.tripod.com/athena_crikey/ff/ And, since this is a .txt version, anything in _underscores_ is meant to represent something in italics. Thanks!  
  
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"Kei-san, why're you wearing tights?" The child pulled on Kei's cloak inquisitively.  
  
"Because... he made me." Kei pointed accusingly at Hayate, who blinked and growled. It had always been a good fall-back plan before, Kei mused. And it was true, more often than not, although this was one case in which it was not. Hayate smiled evilly.   
  
"That's right. And if you don't get moving, I'll make you all wear tights. So let's get away from this river" Hayate pulled the two kids away by their soaking sleeves, followed by Himeno and Kei. The rain was still coming down in droves, and although the thunder and lightening was still going off in the distance, it was just that, distant. Hayate lead them all uphill (at least they would know they were getting away from the river that way) through the thick (and wet) underbrush, finally deciding the top of a hill was as good as another place when you are lost in a forest, and sat down on a large root that protruded out of the ground for several feet. The kids sank to the ground in front of him, and then crawled over to hide from the frigid wind in the lee of a large tree stump. Himeno shivered and sat down next to Hayate, while Kei stood and looked around moodily. A particularly large gust of wind blew his cloak over his head.  
  
"I am not enjoying this. Isn't there anywhere better we could spend the night?" His voice was only slightly muffled by the cloak, which did nothing to muffle his bad temper.  
  
"Like what, a tree?" Hayate inquired, sarcastically.   
  
"Like something with _shelter_. A tree root does not fit that description. Look at the children, if you are unconvinced." Kei pointed a hand out from under his cloak (which, although it was annoying, did hide his now horrific hair from criticism) at the two shivering youngsters. Hayate sighed.  
  
"It's getting darker, and the rain isn't helping. AND, we lost our torches in the river. I can see no where better to spend the night in this darkness, and I don't fancy setting up a shield for all night." Unspoken: we can't use our powers in front of the children again.  
  
Things were beginning to look a little ugly, so Himeno broke in.  
  
"Ne, couldn't we _build_ a shelter? There's plenty of trees and branches and ... stuff... around, so why couldn't we just set up a little shelter. And Kei could provide light. Just... pretend that you have a small flashlight in your hand." She looked pleadingly from Hayate to Kei and back. Hayate sighed again. Any shelter build in this space would be very small. Too small to fit two children, a teenage girl and two Leaf Knights. But, if they cut the knights out of the equation, then they would be able to build a suitable ... shelter. Hayate nodded. Kei held up his hand, as if he were holding something round in it, and low and behold a light peeked out from inside.  
  
"Oh, look what I've found. A very small flashlight. How convenient." Kei's voice was completely flat and dull. Still, it was good enough to convince to half-drowned kids, and with it he, Hayate and Himeno went about piling large dead pine branches around the kids in a sort of large teepee-ish structure, and then on top of that large fern leaves. As Hayate had foreseen, once done there was only room enough for one more person. He pushed Himeno towards it. She looked in, and then realized the problem.  
  
"But what about you? There isn't enough room for you and Kei."  
  
"Obviously, Tulip-atama. We don't mind. You should see storms on Leafenia." He shoved Himeno unceremoniously into the shelter and swung a large branch on top of the exit, covering it with ferns immediately. Himeno's shouts cut off shortly- no doubt she had calmed down to comfort the kids. But Hayate decided he probably didn't want to be around when the storm gave up. He returned to his root, and was joined by Kei, who had let his light extinguish itself. The dark would have been comforting, if it hadn't been for the rain flying in their faces and the distant rumble of thunder. And the eerie swishing of branches.   
  
"That was nice. You really are transparent when it comes to her, you know that right?" Kei had taken his cloak off his head. Hayate was the source of most of his hair criticism to begin with, a little more wouldn't kill him. Hayate swung a tired limb at an equally tired Kei, who never saw it coming and ended up lying on his back in the mud.  
  
"That wasn't so nice. You're still transparent though. Even in the dark, I still know you're blushing." Kei pulled himself back up onto the root. Hayate was silent for a minute, before asking gruffly,   
  
"Really transparent?"  
  
"Really. Of course, maybe it's just because we know you so well."   
  
Hayate snorted. "Yeah, well enough to almost kill me with the closet about once a week."  
  
"Hey, it isn't _my_ fault that Goh can't keep those kids from piling their toys up on the top shelf." Kei raised his arms defensively, although Hayate couldn't see them.  
  
"Yeah, and it's just a coincidence that I have to go in there once a week for the cleaning stuff." A pause. "What about that thing with the thing with the tipis. The ones who decided they'd all follow me around until I stuck them in that vase?"   
  
"That wasn't me either. Not my style. It was Sasame. And they weren't following you around for no reason." Kei sniggered.  
  
"Yes, the note on my bed informing me that they all had crushes on me followed shortly." Hayate did not sound amused.  
  
"Well, at least you put them to good use. Did _you_ know how many red ones there were?"  
  
"No, but I figured neither would she." A longer pause. "I was right, you know."   
  
"Uh huh. She couldn't have known that any more than I could have known the identity the one playing your greatest fear." Beside him, Kei felt Hayate stiffen.  
  
"The boogie monster."   
  
Hayate relaxed. Kei sighed internally. 'Oh, lighten up, Hayate. We would never bug you about the other one. Not after we've all had to wake you up from your nightmares.'  
  
"What do _you_ know about the boogie monster actor?" Hayate's voice had turned suspicious.  
  
"Whaaa? Uh... nothing ... I just figured it was too real to be a figment of your imagination. And every kid is afraid of the boogie monster."  
  
"You would certainly be, if it popped out on you every time you looked under the bed, or in the closet, or..." Hayate trailed off.  
  
"Or out the window?" Kei suggested.  
  
"Ah ha! Got'cha! It WAS you! Only the boogie monster-or someone playing him- would know that!" Hayate pounced, knocking the unsuspecting Kei down on his back into the mud. Kei rolled away and staggered up to his feet, internally pushing down his light's attempts to break out and form an attack. Sometimes it was hard to control instincts, or superhuman powers... He couldn't fight Hayate, but a little worry wouldn't kill him. Moving to the edge of the hill (it had a fairly flat top that was about ten meters in diameter, and the edges were fairly steep drops on some sides) he found a fair sized rock which he picked up before kicked a tree stump, hurting his foot but making an appropriate tripping sound, cursed and dropped down the hill side lightly, throwing the rock to the ground as hard as he could. The rock made a loud thumping noise, and Kei groaned in what he hoped was a convincing way, before flopping to the ground on his back and lying motionless. He heard Hayate come to the edge of the small drop (it was about three meters in height).  
  
"Kei? Kei? ... Kei, you alright? Kei!" Worry was creeping into Hayate's voice. He dropped down lightly and almost immediately tripped over Kei (kicking him in the stomach), who groaned in real anguish, and dropped down beside him, shaking him.  
  
"Kei? Kei, are you okay? Kei!"   
  
Kei was biting his tongue to keep from laughing, but almost immediately the laughter drained from his throat. Something cold-long and cold- was moving up over his chest and now over his neck.  
  
"Hayate!" The whisper conveyed fear, which could easily be mistaken for pain, in this case, and prompted Hayate to grab both Kei's arms and lift him off the ground. The thing on his chest jerked and began to twist around his neck. Kei gave a little moan.  
  
"What hurts? Kei?" Worry was now easily the strongest emotion in Hayate's voice.  
  
"Don't move. There's - something - around - my - neck. And it's moving." The last three words made his point clear to Hayate. Having anything unknown around ones neck is always something to be feared, but something unknown that's moving can be panic inducing, especially in the dark. Hayate moved his hand under Kei's shoulders to hold him up in the position that he had pulled the knight into, so as not to frighten whatever was around the Light Knight's neck into attacking, and then reached out slowly with his other hand, only to brush against fabric. He moved his hand up, and brushed against something he didn't recognize. It moved away, and Kei gave another little moan.  
  
"'S moving up"   
  
"Drop your head back, don't hold it up. Give me more space"   
  
For a second nothing happened, but then he felt the weight shift. Kei slowly lowered his head towards the ground, leaving his throat open to attack. Hayate moved his hand again, and again the thing moved, eliciting another little sound from Kei. Hayate shifted unconsciously, and felt Kei stiffen.  
  
"It's - tightening." Kei's voice was a whisper, but still managed to sound constricted. It sounded like he was having trouble getting the words out, and although Hayate knew that that was only because he was worried, still, it was not comforting.  
  
"Can you give me some light? I can't see anything, and now's not a good time to make a mistake." Hayate waited for a minute, and then a pale light began to shine around Kei, lighting both of them up through the darkness and the rain. There was indeed something dark coiled around his neck, the end of it still resting on the upper part of his chest. Kei's head was dropped back, and his eyes were closed, which might have lead Hayate to think that he had passed out, if he didn't see that Kei's fists were clenched so tight they were nearly shaking.   
  
"It looks like a snake."  
  
"Get - it - off." The strained whisper was still there.   
  
Hayate reached out again tentatively, and the snake (for that was indeed what it was) raised its head to rest on Kei's jaw bone, its tongue flicking back and forth over the pale skin. It stared at Hayate calmly, completely unfazed. It _knew_ it had them at a disadvantage. Hayate's hand was nearing the snake's tail- hopefully he would be able to grab it and fling it off before it had time to strike- but then remembered Kei's words, "it's tightening". That meant... Hayate peered closer. Yes indeed, the snake had wound itself one full rotation around the slighter Knight's neck, which meant that he couldn't rip it off away from him. Hayate switched direction and went for the snake's head. The snake watched him lazily, but when his hand got too close to the back of its neck it rose up and hissed quietly, beginning to tense. It _liked_ its hot resting place, thank you very much.   
  
"Can't you just fry it?" Hayate was not liking this  
  
"Do I look like Goh? If I was even Sasame... snakes respond to sound, he could drive it away, but we're useless. You can't blow it away, and blinding it wouldn't really help. And you're too close for me to use an attack that strong on it. _And_ you can't get away, because if either of us moves, it strikes. Ideas?"  
  
"Yeah, don't try this at home. Just a second." Hayate scrambled around the ground for a stick with his free hand. Kei opened his mouth to say something, and the snake hissed, coiling back ready to strike.  
  
"Don't say anything, just play dead. It's ready to strike at any movement." He felt Kei go completely limp in his arms. Well, arm. He then brought the stick that he had found up to his eyes. It was wide, wide enough... Hayate moved the stick up to the snake. The snake moved its head back. He pushed the stick farther, and, at last, the snake struck, sinking its teeth deep into the wood. Hayate dropped the stick and grabbed the snake by the back of its neck before it could rear itself for another strike. Then he pulled it gently off Kei's neck and tossed it into the trees, calling up a large gust to see it on its way. Kei still hung limply, now breathing heavily.  
  
"The snake has taken a sudden desire to see the world- by air. Let's go." Hayate dropped Kei, who didn't move, but continued breathing heavily, eyelids flickering, and reached spasmodically for the area of his jaw where the snake had been. Hayate dropped to his side and pulled the hand away, staring intently at Kei's neck. So he never saw the backhand that whacked him in the side, knocking him away from the Light Knight. Kei sprang up and sprinted away before Hayate was up, laughing. Hayate followed, hot on his heels, cursing him for all he was worth.  
  
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Meanwhile, in a snake-related situation, Goh had just walked into a nest of them. Screaming in a surprisingly little-girl like fashion, he backpedaled furiously until he was sitting, panting, on the soaking ground about a hundred meters away from the snake nest. When his heartbeat had slowed down to a normal speed, he got up and headed in the opposite direction from the snakes. This path led him to the edge of a river which he was sure not even Hayate and Kei would have been stupid enough to fall in. So he leapt across it and continued on, and was rewarded with the discovery of four more small children, whom he picked up cowering under some large ferns. Two of them were already asleep, so he slung them easily up over one shoulder. The other two got the other shoulder to sit on, where they contented themselves with playing with Goh-san's odd coloured hair. Goh dragged himself through the thick underbrush, made thicker by all the water it was soaked in.   
  
Since he hadn't gotten very far from the camp on his way out, it was easily found again (he contented himself with knowing that he had more directional sense than Sasame), and he dropped the four kids off in their cabins before hauling himself into the one he shared with the others. Four pairs of eyes in the dark greeted him, all eyes staring right at him.  
  
"Uh, hi? What's with the dark?" His voice sounded high-pitched, even to him.  
  
"The electricity failed a half hour ago. We will have to see to it in the morning. How many did you find?" Takako had obviously taken charge.  
  
"Four, this time out, and four the time before that. Himeno got three, that makes 11. Hey, aren't _we_ missing a few people here?"   
  
"Yes, Himeno, Hayate and Kei have not returned. A group of five children returned shortly after you all ran into the woods, bringing the total up to sixteen. That means that two are still out there. But I don't think we can go after them until morning. The storm's still going strong, and our flashlights are ... pathetic." Takako held up a small handheld flashlight which sent out a beam not much stronger than a laser pointer. Everyone sighed.  
  
"Well, there's no use waiting up. Let's tuck in." Goh pushed past the group and flopped down on his bed, ignoring the fact that he would probably soak the bed through immediately. Shortly after he heard everyone else get into their beds. From somewhere behind the blanket barrier, he heard a soft voice,  
  
"but how romantic, to be stranded alone in a storm, with only your love..."  
  
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Stranded in the forest with only his love, one of his best friends who right now he could have cheerfully strangled, and two soaked and miserable children, Hayate was not having a romantic evening. He and Kei had returned to the shelter to find Himeno unable to stop the two children from crying (which apparently they had begun "while you two were off frolicking or whatever it was you were doing, and why weren't you here?"). The kids were not impressed by Hayate's humorous stories (although they were only humorous at the expense of others), nor by Kei's singing. Finally, tired of their cries, Hayate looked at Kei.  
  
"How about a little magic trick?" The crying was suspended. "If you promise not to tell _anyone_, I think Kei-san and I might be able to do a little magic for you." This was an old tactic long ago perfected by the four older knights for the entertainment of the three younger ones when they had been even younger. Although he did not want to show off his powers, 'a little magic' _might_ go unnoticed (at least, that was what he told himself). Without Sasame and Goh the show would be a little lacking, but not much. "Do you like dragons?"  
  
Of course, every child of that age likes dragons, or dinosaurs, or any other sort of giant lizard you could name, and the two eagerly consented to the vow of secrecy. Hayate peeled off the layer of ferns from the 'door' area of the shelter so the children, and Himeno, could see out into the dark. He held up the palm of his hand, and above it, floating gently, a dragon of the Chinese variety appeared, stalking or maybe flying around in circles over his flat palm, lit up by hundreds of tiny tiny little lights speckled all over its scales like little gems. The children leaned forwards for a closer look, and Hayate raised his hand, releasing the dragon into the air, where it grew to the length of a river otter, now making shining serpentine and figure eight figures in the air, the lights leaving little trails of dimmer lights in the air they had just passed through. Had Goh been there, it could have breathed fire, had Sasame been it would have been given a voice, but as it was it was quite spectacular enough for two human children. Hayate snapped his fingers, and it a burst of light and wind it disappeared.   
  
The kids groaned in disappointment, but a second later Hayate's hand was outstretched again, and over it a single little light, about the size of a marble, floated aloft, bobbing slightly. Slowly a small cat form emerged from the wind, again lit up by tiny lights in its fur, as if it had taken a swim in mercury and now reflected the moonlight (if there had been a moon), so that the children could see it as it pranced to and fro across Hayate's palm, staring at the light ball suspiciously before flinging itself on it, both the cat and the ball rolling across Hayate's palm, until the cat fell off and disappeared. The ball of light, however, remained bobbing, and the flew towards the two children, pushed forwards by a now invisible wind, resembling more than anything else a fat firefly. The light flew over to hover just in front of the children before splitting itself to produce two lights, both the same size as the first. And then both split again, and there were four lights, and then sixteen, and then, then too many to count, and they all began flying above and around the children, circling around in complex and beautiful patterns like a well trained team of miniature air-show planes. Finally they spiraled up and away from the children, each growing to the size of golf balls, before joining together to make one huge ball, the size of an over-inflated basketball. Then, with a large sort of crashing sound (provided by Hayate smashing two rocks together) the ball exploded into thousands of tiny bubbles of light and were all blown away into the trees, still dancing through their patterns.   
  
The kids made appropriate sounds of satisfaction before dropping back against Himeno to go to sleep. The two knights sighed and fell back over the root they had been perching on into the mud, where they lay.  
  
"That was always exhausting." Hayate moved a hand up to brush stray pieces of hair out of his eyes. "I'd forgotten how exhausting. I don't know why we did it."  
  
"Because you're a big softie at heart and can't stand to see kids cry?" Kei suggested.  
  
"No, I think it was more along the lines of 'if this doesn't stop I'm not going to get any sleep for a month'. And it had the added benefit of making us so tired that, even if they didn't stop, we were exhausted enough to sleep right through them."  
  
"Yeah." Kei draped his soaking cloak over his shoulders, perhaps trying to pretend that it would offer some warmth. "G'night."   
  
"Good night."  
  
...  
  
"Uh, guys? Could you put the ferns back up? Guys? GUYS!"  
  
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Well, that was a rather surprisingly long amount of nothing. Still, I liked the light show., and I hope everyone else did too. School starts in a week. *groan* If we all were raised on the knight's education system, we wouldn't have this problem. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks to all the reviewers! And hey, Summerleaves kinda got her wish with the blushing. But only a little. ^.~ 


	7. Dreamin'

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear or the characters, please don't sue me?  
  
AN: I'm sorry to have taken so long in getting this out! *bows* Please don't hurt me! I tried to make it long, just to make up for my lack of updates.  
  
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The morning broke about the small teepee-like structure, the sun's rays clearly showing it standing next to trees at least 200 years old, resplendent in its glory of muddy ferns and broken pine tree bows. Lying in the cold mud a meter or two away from the teepee were two men, one wearing blue and white clothing, with long dark blue hair that was spread out under him, long tendrils creeping out from under his back, all covered in mud; the other a shorter man dressed in hues of yellow (from unripe peach to dark almost brown) with a mat of muddy, tangled blond hair stretched out over his face. The dark-haired one groaned, and rose, putting a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun's bright light. The other rose too, and pushed his hair out of his face, but from the way he was stretching, and smiling slightly in the light, it was clear he enjoyed the warmth. Which was no very great surprise, as both of the two men were soaking.  
  
Hayate pulled himself out of the mud and changed back into the clothes he had been wearing yesterday, which were still muddy and wet. There was no need to attract more attention than they already had by remaining in their odd clothing. Kei did the same, and both walked up to the teepee, pulling it apart from the vertex. Inside Himeno lay curled up, the two children pushed up close against her sides for warmth. They looked much drier, and cleaner, than the two knights. Himeno woke up, the sudden bright light startling her into awareness. The two knights picked up a child each, and while Kei held his in his arms Hayate swung his over his shoulder and held his hand out to Himeno.  
  
"Come on, we'll fly low and land before we get to camp."   
  
She stood, but stared at his hand for a minute. Last night they had revealed quite a bit of magic to the two children, and she had no wish to show them- or any of the others- any more. She said as much.   
  
"Himeno, I don't think that any of us could manage to walk back to camp. Flying takes more energy usually, but we're too tired for there to be any other choice right now. Unless you want to stay here all day and rest, and I don't think that I could sleep in the mud again." Kei spoke, his voice carrying only the truth, it wasn't condescending or irritated. He was too tired to be anything but sincere, all the energy that he and Hayate had used the previous night had made sure of that.   
  
With both knights up against her, Himeno quickly folded, and took Hayate's hand. The trip back was quick and cold, the wind exploiting the wetness of the two knights' clothing, so that by the time they had returned to the camp (they landed behind a group of thick trees and walked into the clearing) they were both shivering and gritting their teeth together to stop them chattering. As it was morning, the other children had been herded out to play by the then remaining counselors. And so the entire camp was outside to see them as they returned, wet, muddy, disheveled and exhausted. The two knights passed their burdens off to the other two knights, and slunk off towards the showers. Himeno stared after them, but knew it would be at least a half hour until she would get the use of that facility, and so instead staggered towards the counselor's cabin, sidestepping little children here and there as if they were mines waiting to go off. She emitted enough of an 'I'm tired and annoyed, don't mess with me' aura to keep the kids off her. Mawata followed her into the cabin, the circles under her eyes showing that she might have stayed up waiting for Himeno and company to return later than the others.  
  
"Himeno-san, what happened? Where were you three all last night?" Mawata closed the door behind them on the cabin and sat down on a bunk while Himeno began pulling off her shoes and socks.  
  
"We all fell in a river, and then we were too wet and tired to come back, so we ended up camping out, but there wasn't enough shelter for Hayate and Kei, so they slept in the mud, and now they're all tired and dirty, and I _really_ wouldn't try to have too much of a conversation with them for a while." Himeno had succeeded in getting her skirt off, and was pulling her shirt over her head when the cabin door opened, and Hayate walked in without looking up from the ground. Himeno hadn't bothered to remove herself to behind the female barrier, figuring that no one would enter the cabin.   
  
Hearing the door open, Himeno swiveled around, and screamed.  
  
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A few minutes earlier...  
  
Hayate, his clothes, hair and skin almost one with the mud, trekked into the showers, followed by Kei. He pulled the tie out of his hair and set it down carefully on a wooden shelf. Kei, having more of a distaste for the mud and thus more reason to get out of his clothes quickly, entered the showers and shouted over the sound of the water to Hayate that there was no soap, or shampoo. Muttering, Hayate replied that he would get some (both Kei and Hayate had brought shampoo along, as their hair needed the most and it seemed unlikely that the camp would have the brand that either preferred (although Hayate would drop dead before admitting this) and doubtless someone had brought soap, it was just a question of finding it), and stalked off to the cabin, staring down at the dirt on his shoes. The children, wary of someone so dirty, gave him a wide berth, and he opened the door to the cabin, still absently staring at the ground.  
  
As soon as he stepped inside he lifted his eyes to scan for his bag, and met the large eyes of Himeno. And as he registered what she was (or rather, was not) wearing, she screamed blue murder. Wide eyed, too shocked even to look away, he stumbled backwards, sincerely hoping that the door was where he had left it. It was, and he stepped out, forgetting the drop from the cabin to the ground, unbalanced himself and fell hard on his rear end, where he continued to stare, a blush covering his face.   
  
Behind him both Goh and Sasame had appeared, ready for battle, but upon seeing Hayate sitting on the ground, staring into the cabin (and making no defensive moves), they both looked too, and then immediately looked away, raising a hand to block their peripheral vision. It took Kei's appearance in a towel (and only a towel) asking what the screaming was about (and where his shampoo was), to snap Hayate out of his shock. Mawata slammed the door closed, blushing as well. Sasame and Goh dragged Hayate to his feet, in time for Himeno's exit from the cabin wearing a dirty sweater and sweatpants (which she had obviously found on the ground and thrown on, so as to get out of the cabin and shout at Hayate as soon as possible).   
  
"HAYATEEEEEEEE!" She flew through the air and punched him in the face, dropping him to the ground easily, where she plunked down onto his back and pulled at his hair. The children gathered around to watch, amazed, as one of their counselors acted their age. The other knights could only stare, either too used to this performance to bother trying to stop it, or too shocked at Hayate's benevolence to act. And indeed, he did nothing while she pulled at his long hair, screeching.   
  
Kei, tired of waiting, walked past them and into the cabin, where he ran straight into Mawata, who took one look at him and sprinted out the door. He stared after her, blinking, for a second before rummaging through his bag and finding both shampoo and soap. No one noticed his departure (not that they had really noticed his arrival, either...).   
  
Outside, Goh and Sasame managed to drag Himeno off of Hayate, and he fled to the showers, running from a fight for the first time in his life. Himeno, having beaten out her anger, sat on the ground, unable to think of anything to say, and finally stood up and returned into the cabin, closing the door behind her and locking it.  
  
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The rest of the morning passed in a relatively quiet way, the children (having seen enough of Himeno's performance to have something to amuse themselves with for quite a while) proved surprisingly easy to handle, they only had to be told three times not to hang off poor Hayate-san's hair before they complied. Lunch was also a calm affair, with sandwiches prepared by Sasame and Takako, and juice by Yayoi (who had had her novel stolen from her by Goh, so that she would not accidentally tip the entire contents of the sugar bag into the juice while sweetening it a little). Hayate managed to make himself scarce whenever Himeno appeared, something that was amusing at first, but after a while became just annoying, especially for Goh, who was left to mind all the children when this happened.   
  
The afternoon brought another hike (with cell-phones this time!) which occupied the children for the entire afternoon. The weather was nice, Sasame speculated that after the previous night's hideous storm nature was trying to balance things out. No one was lost, or injured (to the disappointment of the children), and the rest of the evening played out calmly, with the children consuming dinner and being sent off to bed by nine. And then began the night.  
  
The four girls entered the cabin first, and as Sasame was about to step up, Himeno slammed the door in his face. He fell back, surprised, into Hayate, who fell back into Kei, who fell back into Goh, who ended up on the ground on the bottom of the pile.  
  
"Yo! Himeno! What're you doin'?" Goh laboriously pulled himself out from the bottom of the pile.  
  
Himeno opened a window and stuck her head out.  
  
"You can change out there, so do! And you can stay out there, until we're all changed!" she slammed the window with only slightly less violence than she had the door. The knights looked at each other, and then turned as one to glare at Hayate, who stared back plain-faced.  
  
"What?"   
  
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Once they had finally been permitted to enter the cabin, the knights settled quietly into their beds, very conscious of both the silence on the other side of the blanket, and the extra sheet that had been added to stop up any holes not covered by the blanket.   
  
Complete silence descended upon the cabin. For about five minutes.  
  
"Oi!" Goh kicked his foot up, shaking the bunk above him, which Kei (being the lighter of the two) happened to be lying in. The sound echoed through the cabin.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's nine-thirty."*  
  
"_AND?_"  
  
"I can't sleep at nine thirty!"  
  
"You didn't complain about this before."   
  
"Yeah, well, last night we were up wondering about _you_, and the night before that, about Sasame."  
  
"And the night before that?"  
  
"I was sick from the ants on the logs."  
  
A noticeable pause.  
  
"What was wrong with my ants on the logs?" Takako's voice, from the other side of The Wall. Even Goh knew better than to mess with that tone of voice.  
  
"Ummm, nothing. It was probably something else. Yeah. Can we do something now?"  
  
"You could go to sleep, and stop shaking the bunk." Kei's voice again, sounding tired.  
  
"No one's stopping you."  
  
"Actually, Goh, though it may come as a shock you, some of us find it very hard to sleep while others are whining!" Sasame.  
  
"Aww, go eavesdrop on someone else."   
  
"Could you three please SHUT UP!" Himeno, she who must be obeyed, shouted from the other side, and silence was once again achieved.  
  
"I'm not tiiiiiiired~" He never saw the bottle of hairspray coming.  
  
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Hayate was dreaming again. The three other knights lay alert in their bunks, awakened by the first small outcry. It was born into them, the ability to sense when something was wrong, to be completely awake and aware at the first sight, sound or smell of trouble. And so they were used to Hayate's dreams awakening them (although only when he slept in close proximity to them, and that wasn't too often), used to lying in the darkness and feeling the low tremors of fear and panic. Waking him would be of no use, the dreams would return in a night or two, and it would only embarrass him.   
  
Another about Himeno then, and the Mayouchuu. From the sounds of it, it ended as they always did, with Himeno dying before Hayate could get there. He awoke with a start, and the other knights winced as he sat up abruptly and rammed his head into the underside of the bunk above him. Cursing under his breath, he rolled out of the bed and onto the floor, where he sat, panting, for a minute, before standing up and walking over to The Wall.  
  
Back in the city, this was easier for him, it was easy for him to check in on Himeno afterwards, just look in through her window to see that she was still there ... safe. Here though... He stared at the blanket for a minute, before blowing it aside gently. Shadowy blue eyes having adjusted to the darkness a while ago, he could see that Himeno was not in her bunk. Startled, he took a step forward, unconsciously gasping slightly. Only to run straight into Himeno, who had got up to look at the sky out the window.  
  
Unsure of who she had just run in to, but well aware that the person was too tall to be one of the other girls, Himeno screamed let fly with her fist, and nailed Hayate on the chin. He fell backwards, tripping in the hole in the ground, and tearing The Wall down with him tangling himself up in it as he went down. Himeno kicked hard at the mass of writhing blankets.   
  
The other knights had, at the sound of the punch (and the scream) clambered out of their beds, and now Kei was lighting up the room. The other girls, woken by Himeno's scream, sat in their beds, eyes wide, staring at the moving, cursing pile of blankets on the ground.   
  
Tired and annoyed, Hayate blew the cumbersome blankets off of himself with a large gust of wind, they ended up hanging on one of the bedposts. Himeno stared at her 'attacker'. Hayate. Caught for the second time in a day sneaking around the cabin when he wasn't supposed to be. Too shocked or disappointed to say anything, she said nothing, and ran out of the cabin. Hayate disappeared in a swirl of blue wind. The three knights sighed.  
  
"I'll go after Hayate." Sasame disappeared as well. Kei and Goh stared at each other.   
  
"I guess that leaves Himeno to us." They walked out of the door, Goh stopping only to grab a coat, and left the three girls to stare after them.  
  
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Hayate reappeared on the thick branch of a pine tree, leaning against the trunk, a leg hanging down on either side of the bow he was seated upon, and stared down at the ground. It was a ways away, probably about two stories. He shrugged. There was only a slight "ping" noise to alert him to Sasame's imminent arrival, before the Sound Knight appeared on the branch, standing in front of him.   
  
"Get your own tree." Hayate crossed his arms.  
  
"She doesn't mean it, you know. She just doesn't understand. You can't blame her, you've walked in on her twice in one day. If you explained to her, she would help."  
  
"What would I say? 'Oh, by the way, Himeno, ever since I met you have had nightmares about you being torn limb from limb while I watched?' I'm sure that would go over very well. I don't need your sympathy, and I don't want your advice." Hayate turned his head.   
  
"I don't care what you _want_, Hayate. But when your nightmares are strong enough to transmit undercurrents of themselves to all the other knights in the vicinity, it's time to do something about it! You need to talk to someone, because this isn't healthy. And neither is what it'll do to the others if it continues. Maybe you can go without sleep, but not all of us can."   
  
"So that's it then? You want me to talk to Himeno so you can get a good night's sleep? If that's all that's bothering you, Sasame, I'll just find somewhere else to sleep. _Good_night." He disappeared again. Sasame stared at the empty space Hayate had just been inhabiting, and swore.  
  
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Himeno pounded out of the cabin in bare feet, and made it half way across the large compound before she would admit to herself her mistake. The ground was _cold_ at night, and it was creeping up into her feet, making them numb. She shivered and hopped onto one foot, but only made it a few more feet before she stepped on a rock, jumped off it, lost her balance and fell backwards. She was caught before she hit the ground from behind. Looking up, she saw Goh's face upside down above hers. He smiled widely and pushed her back up onto her feet. She spun around and found that Kei was also there, lighting up the immediate area.   
  
"Why are you out here?" She looked genuinely confused.   
  
"We were worried 'bout you! It's dark outside! And cold!" Goh handed her the coat he had grabbed on the way out. She stared at it for a minute before shrugging it on and wrapping it around herself tightly.   
  
"Brrr! I didn't think it would be so cold in the summer! Oh well, it is the mountains! They have snow half the year!" Himeno smiled and jogged on the spot.   
  
"Himeno?" Kei stepped forward. "We came to talk about Hayate."  
  
Goh hit his forehead with his palm. Himeno stared at the two of them.  
  
"Hayate? He always did whatever he wanted, and that was fine with me, until today. If he doesn't have any human decency, well, I'll just have to teach him some!" She made a fist, stared at it, and laughed. She did not notice the sadness in her own voice, both on the account that she was pushing Hayate away, and because in the past when he had gone against her it had been to save her life- at the cost of his own.  
  
"You don't understand, Himeno... Hayate isn't, I mean, he has reasons, and he..." Goh stuttered to a stop, and Himeno picked up her defense.  
  
"He has reasons for sneaking into our side at night, when we're sleeping in who knows what? I'm sure he does, but I'm talking about valid ones."  
  
Goh sputtered for a second. Arguing with Himeno was confusing. And it was like arguing with Hayate, neither of them would ever give up.  
  
"He does! He, he-"  
  
"He was worried about you." Kei stepped forwards. Himeno stared at him (ignoring Goh, who didn't seem to be able to make up his mind about whether to be annoyed or relieved).  
  
"It's bred into us to protect things. We protect Leafe, your city, your world, our world Leafania, and you, the Pretear. And Hayate has it set in his head that his paramount concern is to protect _you_. And when he has nightmares about failing at his self-imposed duty every second night, can you blame him for his desire to make sure you are all right?" Kei looked her in the eye, and she noticed for the first time that his eyes were shiny golden, so that they almost seemed to glow on their own.  
  
"You mean...?"  
  
"After watching you die in his dreams, he needs to spend some time watching you in reality. To make sure you're still breathing." Kei turned, inclined his head to Goh, and walked away, his bobbing light showing his progress back to the cabin. Goh kept looking at Himeno for a second as if he wanted to say something, shrugged that look off, and ran after Kei, looking back over his shoulder twice. Himeno watched them re-enter the cabin, and then turned to stare at the woods.   
  
"Hayate." He was out there somewhere. And she was going to find him.  
  
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* Thanks to "Due South" for that line (although it's slightly altered, originally 'it' was seven pm)   
  
Well, I don't know when I'll get the next chapter out. I'd be optimistic and say soon, but if you remember I said that last chapter, and it's been an entire semester of school since then. I'M SOOOOOO SORRY!!! If it helps, I feel terrible. But I just haven't been motivated to write Pretear for a while. In other news, can you tell who my favorite character is? Have I mentioned it before? Maybe I'll write Kei his own fic, and then he won't have to take over so much in this one. I don't even know if anyone out there likes Kei. Do you? Thank you very much to all the reviewers! 


	8. MeshingEpilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear, nor the characters, nor the song White Destiny. Please don't sue me. You'd only get a bunch of half-translated songs and manga...  
  
AN: OMG! I finished this! *is extremely suprised* It was no thanks to Word, either, which keeps trying to shut down every two minutes. *kicks it* Ummm, yeah. I figured I'd better pull myself together and finish this before the school year started, or I'd never get it done. And I did! School doesn't start 'til tomorrow! Hoho! Ummm, I seem to have failed in my attempts to beat Kei back into the background... Hayate and Himeno do get some scenes as well though! Even though half of them are in a tree... a heh heh heh. A huge thank you to all the reviewers, whether you realise it or not, you are what keep me going, because each review contributes to my guilty conscious, until I just topple over and write more. I am extremely easy to guilt into things, although I'm not sure that it's really to my advantage to be telling you people that. Umm, as for a possible sequel... it's possible, but not hugely probable. Sequels are things that you cannot guilt me into, although you could try. One might point out that, now that Kei and Mawata have been steered in each other's direction, what's gonna happen? The answer: I've no idea, why don't _you_ think of ideas. Still, where there's a lurking Goh, there's a way... I hope you've all enjoyed this fic, in all its oddness.   
  
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"Hayateeeeeeeeeeeee!" A guilt-stricken Himeno was running through the forest, heedless of her now bleeding feet. As Pretear, she had learned to ignore pain when something more important was at stake. As it was now. Why was she always doing this? Always accusing Hayate of something, pushing him away, and then discovering her mistake only after she had hurt him. "Why can't I LEARN?" She stopped for a minute to hit her head against a tree, stunning herself enough to force her to stop and sit down, and stare at the tree she had struck herself with rather stupidly. Gathering her thoughts, Himeno stood again, now she was beginning to feel the pain in her feet, and she limped for a step before she felt ready to continue on.   
  
"Oi. Tulip-atama." Hayate's voice, from above. Himeno stumbled backwards and stared up. Sure enough, there was Hayate, perched on a branch high up in the tree looking down at her. It was how it should be, after all. With all her insults of him she had only lowered herself. She blinked; all along she had been looking for him, but she hadn't thought of what she would say when she found him.  
  
"Hi.." Damn. That was not impressive.  
  
"Aa. Were you looking for me?" Hayate showed no signs of coming down.   
  
"Umm, yes... I don't suppose you want to come down here?" Himeno looked up, hopefully. Hayate raised an eyebrow in quiet disdain. "No, thought not. Well, I'll just have to go up there then!" Pumping a fist, she scrambled up into the tree, pulling herself up with the help of the thick branches that stuck out at semi-regular intervals. The tree was a lot taller than she had realized, and Hayate had perched high up, sitting on a branch that seemed too thin to support his weight. Which meant that by the time she had scaled to his height, she was panting heavily.  
  
"Need a little more exercise, perhaps?" Hayate's tone was mocking, only slightly on edge.  
  
"Hayate?" Himeno looked straight into his eyes, trying to stop her own from filling with tears. "I, you... you don't have to joke now. I promise I won't hurt you again. Ever again. It's just... I never understand, and you're always just trying to protect me, and... I always end up saying mean things because I don't know. I'm sorry, Hayate." She sniffed reflexively, then quickly put a hand up over her nose, trying to cover the sound that had already escaped. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't she woudn'tshewouldn'tshewouldn't.   
  
"Himeno?"   
  
She wiped her eyes, hiding the tears that betrayed her and smiled, biting her lip slightly to keep from sniffing.   
  
"Don't... don't worry about it. Geez, you've managed to mess up so many things in the past, I'm surprised you aren't just resigned to it by now!" Hayate's voice had been serious, but that tone was quickly replaced by his mocking one.   
  
"Mou! Ha-ya-te!" She stood, meaning to walk over and whack him one, but had obviously forgotten where she was. One step towards Hayate, and the bark on the branch broke, her foot sliding off the branch, quickly followed by the rest of her.   
  
"HAYATEEEEEEEEE!" This scream was so much different than her earlier calls for him that Hayate didn't even recognize both of them as his name. The second represented only one word to him: help!  
  
He dropped off the tree branch, the costume of the Wind Pretear appearing on his person, falling and reaching his hand out to her. Himeno stared up in shock, this time felt so much different than before, a few days ago when she had been dropped. She reached up her hand, almost lazily, scared but distant. Her mind told her she should be scared, but the rest of her, her _heart_ knew that Hayate would catch her, would grab her hand in time. He made a swipe, then another, then another, missing each time. Himeno had no idea how close the ground was, all she could see was the fear, the real terror in his eyes. He was scared, completely terrified with the thought that she might die. A last swing of his hand, _there_, he had caught her. With his right hand. And hers. Pretear.   
  
Himeno, the Wind Pretear, appeared only a moment before Himeno, the helpless girl, would have hit the ground, but being the Wind Pretear now she was able to stop her fall and float down softly to the ground. She would have split from Hayate then and there, after all why waist the energy used to remain in Pretear form?, had she not sensed something.   
  
"Hayate? What was that? That ... ping feeling? I've never felt it before." There was no other way to describe it, Himeno felt as though she had been struck like a bell.  
  
"It was Sasame calling you. You're needed at the camp. If he's calling like that, it's urgent. Don't take the time to worry about being seen, just _go_!" Hayate's voice echoed through her head, slightly tinny and removed as it always sounded to her when he was Pret-ed with her. She nodded and used the wind to shoot herself up past the tree that had so recently dropped her, up over the heads of all the trees. And immediately saw why Sasame had called her. The red glow of fire was lighting up the night sky, smoke rising from the direction of the camp. As she flew closer, she could see that the fire had spread into the camp, blown in by the wind from a small private campsite a ways away. Some family must have set up camp nearby during the day, and neglected to put out their fire. A good deal of the forest was dry from the day's sun, but just as much was still wet, and the fire wouldn't have been a problem had it not been close enough to spread to the camp, which was very dry being in a clearing and completely exposed to the sun.   
  
Below her she could see children running in all directions, but mostly away from the fire. It had caught onto two buildings and was rapidly devouring them, tongues of flame licking contentedly at the wooden buildings as if they were sweet candies to be savored. The light from the fire lit the whole camp in an eerie blood-red light.  
  
Himeno sent a huge gust of wind at the flames, and while it did cause them to blow back partially off the cabins it also helped to fan the flames, giving them more oxygen, and setting sparks flying far enough to catch onto another cabin. Himeno gasped and landed, staring at the fire, afraid to act.  
  
Looking around in her distraction, she was quick to grasp the frail tendrils of organization seeking to grab as many children as possible. At the root of said tendrils were the three remaining girls, all of whom were shepherding the children who had run out of their cabins at the sight or smell of fire. They were gathering a large crowd of the youngsters on the far side of the compound from the fire.  
  
It was unfortunate that the two knights whose powers were effectively made to combat fire were not present, because the powers of wind, sound, light and fire were as good as ineffective against the fire.  
  
Running towards the three girls, Himeno looked about for the other knights. She didn't see them.  
  
"Where is everyone? Are all the children safe?" Something white on the edge of the woods caught her eye, and she turned away before an answer came. Sasame was running back and forth just before the tree line, catching any panicking children that tried to run into the woods. He had already amassed a group of perhaps thirty, who were hopping from one foot to the other, instincts telling them to do _something_, while Sasame ordered them to do nothing.   
  
"Hayate, you should come out. We need more people, not stronger force." Even as she spoke she felt the tingling deflation, as if the air had been pushed out of her lungs that she had grown to recognize as the feeling of the knight leaving. A second later Hayate appeared next to her, dressed in his uniform.   
  
While most of the children who were attempting to flee into the forest were doing so in Sasame's vicinity, a few were running for the woods near the fire, too frightened by the burning cabins to realize the danger they were heading towards. Hayate took off in their direction.   
  
"Sorry, where are the other two?" Himeno turned back to look at Takako. She pointed silently to the burning cabins, fear flitting her face. Himeno turned, eyes widening. Even as she watched, Goh struggled out of one of the burning cabins carrying four children in her arms. With a thrill of horror, Himeno's mind caught up with her eyes. The cabins that had caught on fire were those that housed the youngest of the children, those who would know the least what to do. Forgetting any thoughts of a plan, she began sprinting in the direction of the fiery cabins. There had been two on fire, one knight to clear each. But she had caused another, and no one was there to clear any stragglers that might not have left the now burning building. She was halfway across the compound when something, or rather someone, caught onto her arm. She swiveled to find a panting Mawata hanging on to her. Before she could question her step-sister, the younger girl pointed to Himeno's right. A tall tree stood a ways into the compound, and the flames were spreading out towards it. That in itself was not worrying. What was was the presence of two young boys in the tree. Himeno recognized the two that she had helped rescue from the river.  
  
"They're stuck in the tree, and they don't trust me. They want _you_ to get them down. There isn't time to argue. I will check the cabin." Mawata shoved Himeno in the direction of the tree and ran off towards the smoldering cabin, effectively cutting Himeno off for the second time in as many minutes. Her body turned itself and began running towards the tree while her mind began to catch up. She put on a smile as she neared the tree, one eye watching the fire nervously.   
  
"Can you guys climb down?"   
  
Both heads shook hard.  
  
"Okay, I'll come up. Here we go!" The branches of the tree, an old pine, made it easy for Himeno to climb, although the children had probably found it harder with their shorter limbs. She was standing on a branch directly below them in less than a minute. Carefully she lifted the first down onto her branch. From there he began to climb down, as the distance between the lower branches were not so great. The second child, however, seemed too afraid to move. The fire crackled and sparked merrily. A gust of wind brought an ember to land in the dry underneath of the pine's needles. It glowed for a second, and then caught, the whole branch catching fire in seconds. Himeno stifled a scream, and grabbed the child quickly, hugging him to her chest. He latched onto her, hard. She could hear the first child crying from the ground. It suddenly seemed very far away. The fire ringed around the bottom of the tree, cutting off her escape from the ground. Himeno looked about, there were no trees close enough for her to move to, and she was too high to be able to jump and land running. If she jumped and fell the flames would catch her, and the burden that clung to her.   
  
Himeno struggled to climb higher into the tree, gave a short scream as she lost her balance and almost toppled out of the tree before her hand caught a higher branch and she steadied herself. She was stuck now, the branches above her were too thin to take her weight. The boy's body shook against her as he cried, but the crackling of the fire in her ears prevented her from hearing him. If she hadn't undone the pret... She looked around frantically.   
  
Yayoi and Takako were too busy gathering the children in a group, watching for strays or approaching flames to notice her. Sasame had his back to her; no one stood in front of the three burning houses and Hayate was no where in sight. She gulped, and scrambled out away from the trunk of the tree as it began to smoke and fire licked up it towards her feet. She looked towards the houses again. Even as she did, she saw someone, Kei, exit the second house and send five children towards the two girls on the other side of the camp. She opened her mouth to shout to him, when a resounding crack split the air of the campsite. Something cold seemed to drop into Himeno's stomach and sit there, wrapping her insides around it. The roof of the third house, the one she had been going to check, had just split in half at the top. A scream echoed from inside. In a burst of light, Kei disappeared. And Himeno felt rather than saw the fire catch hold of her branch.  
  
"HAYATE!!!"  
  
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Mawata pushed her step-sister towards the tree holding the two stranded children and let her feet carry her towards the third smoking building. The fire had caught on the roof but it was still fairly localized to one corner, making her building safer than either of the other two burning ones. She pushed the door open and, holding her sleeve over her nose and mouth, entered.   
  
Smoke poured past her, almost as thick as water. Her eyes burned and she ducked low. From somewhere on her right she heard coughing.  
  
"Is anyone here? Call if you hear me!" Even as she stumbled forwards she realized she had not brought any light. It was light enough to see outside due to the flames but inside the smoke blocked any light from entering. Her foot caught on something and she tripped forwards, her instinctively outstretched arms catching on a soft bunk. Sweeping outwards she hit something soft- a child.   
  
Pulling herself up onto the bunk, she was gathering the child into her arms before she realized that there were two. Steeling herself, she took both of them up into her arms. The awkward bulk caused her to trip two steps from the bunk and she landed hard on her back, the breath knocked out of her. She coughed, trying to draw air back into her lungs and getting smoke instead. Shaking her head hard she gathered her strength and pushed off from the ground hard, just managing to dart out the door.   
  
The air outside, slightly smoky as it was, was so much better than that inside that Mawata thought she could have cried from relief. It was then she realized she _was_ crying, from the burning smoke. The two children she had brought coughed for a minute, but a few shakes brought them to their senses. The building had not been smoking long enough for them to be seriously overwhelmed.  
  
"Is there anyone else in the building? Please, it is important!" Mawata tried to keep the edge of panic out of her now raspy voice. The children shrugged, and one of the two ran towards Yayoi and Takako. The other, a girl, stood and looked like she would very much like to join her companion. However manners triumphed and she waited for dismissal.  
  
"Please, are any other children in there? I need to know so I can get them out, so they don't get hurt!" The girl shrugged again with apologetic eyes.  
  
"I don't think so, Mawata-san, but..." Again the girl shrugged. The fire behind them crackled loudly and she ran off, instincts taking control. Mawata sighed, took a deep breath in and ran back into the house.  
  
The air inside was no better for having had the door open, the smoke even seemed even thicker now.   
  
"Hello? Hello?" Aware that, even if a child was still here, he or she might not be able to answer, Mawata stepped quickly across to where she knew the bunks to b, and ran her arms through the space just above them. It was inefficient and had the danger of missing someone under the bunks but she knew from the heat and the flames she could now see on the back wall and roof that she did not have enough time. Searching this way was simply her best chance of finding anyone still in the building. As she worker her way further from the door and closer to the flames the smoke grew thicker and her lungs burned harder. She began swiping faster, less cautiously, her growing light-headedness a clear warning of the little time left to her. She could feel herself crying now, both from the stinging smoke and the thought that some child was lying unconscious in the cabin, and she could not find him. The roof creaked ominously. The flames burst in through a hole near the ground and began crawling up the insides of the cabin. The heat seared her skin, burned her hair until she felt she couldn't think any longer. Something in her drove her on, and she pressed closer to the flames, still searching. The roof creaked again and she paused, just about to continue, when something crashed so loudly she thought for a second she had been struck by lightening. Flaming wood rained down on her and she screamed involuntarily as she realized what was happening. The roof was collapsing, right on her.  
  
She looked up, stared in fascination as the fiery rafters fell in, followed by the roof in two huge sections. It was sinking, like a ship, rather than falling in like a rock. Her legs wouldn't move; her smoke-addled brain couldn't think but her heart, never stopped by thought for herself, told her to keep looking even as the ceiling began raining down on her. Something barreled into her, knocking her forwards and to the floor, its weight landing on her. 'Strange,' she thought, 'if the ceiling is falling on me, why is it pushing me _sideways_?' Even as the thoughts ran through her mind her body objected, began to push frantically at whatever was weighing down. Instinct was kicking in, telling her to _get out_.  
  
"LET ME UP!" She was screaming and sobbing, even as she felt the weight on top of her suddenly increase ten-fold. The hot floor burned her hands, its smell choked her and even as she struggled she could feel herself surrendering.  
  
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Hayate had just sent the last of the wayward children scuttling over to Yayoi and Takako, who now appeared to be taking roll call, when he saw the roof of the third cabin begin to cave in, and heard the scream. He was flying towards it when another, much more terrifying sound came to his ears  
  
"HAYATE!!!" He turned in mid-air, scanning frantically for the source of the scream. It came from a burning pine tree, the bottom half of which was completely taken by flames that were now spreading to the top. And upon one of the branches just now catching fire stood Himeno, a small child holding onto her chest. She was staring in horror at the collapsing cabin. Hayate turned his thoughts away from the scream he had heard and was at Himeno's side in seconds, just in time to blow away the flames that were about to catch onto her clothes. Himeno looked up at him in shock, eyes wide with fear and surprise.   
  
"Ha-Hayate! Mawata-chan, the cabin-"   
  
"We'll worry about _you_ first." Hayate's face was frozen in a look of concentration, keeping the fire down with strong winds, hovering beside Himeno and taking stock of the situation all around him was taking a considerable amount of effort.   
  
"Take the child first, then come back for me." Himeno began pulling at the child with her free hand.  
  
"I'll take you too."  
  
"Don't be silly Hayate, you can't carry both of -"  
  
"Watch me." He swept her up into his arms, child and all. Himeno gave a little yelp and found herself held firmly in Hayate's arms, backing away from the tree. The wind disappeared and the fire reared back to life with a WHOOSH, engulfing the tree almost completely. Himeno whimpered slightly, but as she turned her face to look at Hayate she smiled through the tears. As Hayate's feet touched the ground, another crash came from the direction of the burning cabins. Himeno turned, ice running through her veins, and watched as the cabin which Mawata was in collapsed completely in a heap and the one to its right began to cave in. Himeno dropped the child, who landed running and fled to the safety of the other children, broke free of Hayate's arms and ran for the flaming pile of wood that had been a cabin. To her left she vaguely saw two shapes, one red, the other white, running towards the cabin also. She ignored them and focused on the cabin. It was possible that Mawata was buried under untouched wood, protected. She had to get her out.   
  
Himeno had almost reached the huge fire when arms from behind grabbed her, hauling her backwards. She fought against them, kicked at the legs of whoever was holding her back. On her right she caught sight of Goh, held just as she was by Sasame, also fighting him.  
  
"Kei's in there! You saw him! Let me go, we have to get him out! He could still be okay! Dammit Sasame!"   
  
Sasame's voice, clear as always but with an unknown tightness rang out loudly through the area, "it's all on fire now. Goh, Himeno, stop it. They're gone."  
  
Himeno collapsed limply against Hayate's chest and stared at the fire in disbelief until her eyes forced her to look away.  
  
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The hot floor burned her hands, its smell choked her and even as she struggled she could feel herself surrendering until- it simply disappeared. All of it. The heat, the smoke, the floor. Some of the weight, however, remained.  
  
Mawata looked up and found herself lying on the still-wet forest floor, under tree cover on the other side of the camp. Across the compound she could see the fiery pile that was the cabin. Next to it its brother cabin was surrendering to the destruction of the fire. She coughed and clawed at the ground, dug her fingers deep into the rocky soil and pulled herself out from under the weight, struggled to her knees. Her lungs were still burning with the memory of the smoke, and she began to cough even as she was crying, her mind abandoning her to her feelings. Some small part of her knew that it was impossible for her to have gotten from the cabin to the other side of the camp, but she was too busy trying to keep herself from dropping into shock to think about it.   
  
Even as she coughed, rocking back and forwards in the damp underbrush, she felt something warm wrap about her. She turned around, shocked into breathing correctly, and stared into Kei's golden eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, not sure what she would say, but never had a chance. At that moment his eyes closed and he slumped forwards into her shocked embrace. His back was covered with shining red burns, blood, and black soot. Mawata reached out a hand, she could feel the heat emanating from his back before she even touched it. A part of her mind- the part that had told her traveling without moving was impossible- told her she should go get help, tell someone they were there. The rest of her mind was too occupied with trying to organize the unconscious knight she had suddenly found into a comfortable position in her lap to pay it any heed.   
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Hayate lead Himeno back to the group of children, supporting most of her weight. It felt like a feather compared to the weight of guilt that hung about his neck on a tight chain. From behind all the children, Takako and Yayoi were staring with wide eyes, tears already running freely down their cheeks. Takako pressed through the throng to Sasame's side, helped him maneuver Goh over to the doorstep of the councilor's building before which the group had gathered. She left him to join Himeno and Hayate, who despite their lost looks still seemed to be in charge.  
  
"We took a count. All the children are here. They're all safe, none more hurt than a little sunburn and smoke. I... we should have told you sooner. We should have counted faster! She wouldn't have gone back in if, if we had been faster, we could have..." Takako spoke faster and faster, until hitting the crux of her point where she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. Kei she had known for years, and Mawata she had grown to admire immensely, and after what Saihi had done to the girl, she had wanted to help and protect her in any way she could. She buried her face in her hands.  
  
"Yo! Hey, guys, why're you lying around? You were so loud, we heard you from town!" As one, Hayate, Himeno and Takako swiveled around to see Mannen, Hajime and Shin walking towards them.   
  
"Aren't you gonna do something about the fire? That thing's dangerous!" Mannen smiled, shrugged when he saw their gaping looks, and led the three children back towards the flaming trees and cabins. Sasame and Yayoi quickly distracted the children, asked questions about where they would like to sleep, what they would like for breakfast; on the other side of the camp Hajime and Mannen set to work putting out the flames with fire and ice, while Shin did his best to sweep any vulnerable plants and potential fuel away from the flames.   
  
It was amazing how quickly the younger knights dealt with the fire, which went to show how powerful the knights were when they were all together as a team. However, without all its members, the members' individual powers sometimes amounted to nothing. Not even enough to save two innocent lives, Takako thought, looking up from her hands to stare at the smoking heap of charred wood that had collapsed upon Mawata and Kei. In the pale light of dawn, the horror of the red evening was beginning to fade away. But not the pain. She swallowed the lump in her throat, ignoring its burning aftereffects, and went to join Yayoi in speaking to the children, allowing Sasame and Goh to speak with Hayate and Himeno. But none of them had anything to say. Himeno had lost a sister and a close friend, the knights a brother and a companion.   
  
"We never, never helped him. Never gave him advice. It was always him telling us what to do, where to go. Ordered us around like a bunch of slaves... And he never, ever said 'I told you so' when we didn't listen and he was right. I should'a been there! They were all out, I knew mine was clear, saw him go in after her, thought he'd be out in a second. DAMMIT! Damn." Goh struck his thighs savagely as his voice cracked, wavered with the unshed tears. He looked around, the kids weren't there, Himeno and Hayate were together, Sasame was watching the forest with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes brighter than they usually were. He couldn't be strong for strength itself. And there was no one left to comfort. Beside him, Sasame stiffened and stepped backwards, a hand flying unbidden to cover his mouth, his eyes growing wider than the glasses which sometimes covered them. Goh felt his heart flutter, jump with hope. He turned, fighting the urge to close his eyes. Beside him Himeno screamed, whether in happiness or pain he couldn't tell. He blinked and finished turning. Walking out of the forest were Mawata and Kei, the former helping the latter to walk, his arm slung over her thin shoulders and hers around his waist equally thin waist. Goh was running before he even knew for sure what was happening.   
  
He beat the others to the couple's side, although they arrived only a heartbeat after. He would have barreled right into them, but Mawata pulled Kei aside and Goh went flying into the dirt behind the other knight. He pulled himself to his feet, unsure of his emotions, but they steadied somewhere between joy and horror as his eyes settled on Kei's very solid, and very burnt back.   
  
"Kami-sama," his voice was nothing but a whisper. "He shouldn't be walking!"   
  
"I couldn't carry him. And I couldn't leave him lying in the underbrush either." Mawata's voice was quiet and raspy. "Can you help him walk please, Goh-san? I don't think I can hold him up much longer..." She helped Kei lean against the red haired knight, and then stared at her own hands, burnt from the flames and the heat of the floor boards. All her showing skin was considerably redder than it usually was. Himeno took one look at Kei's back and stifled a gasp.  
  
"We have to get him, both of them, to a hospital!" She looked around, realising that they had no transportation.   
  
"It's all right. Mawata's not too badly hurt. We'll get her to doctor as soon as we can, but her burns aren't threatening. And Leafenia can heal Kei, we'll take him there. Right now, you, Yayoi and Takako need to get these kids home, call the camp managers and tell them that the camp has to end early, they'll be able to arrange for transportation." Sasame's low voice took control of the situation, calming the frantic Himeno. She looked to Hayate, who nodded. Pulling herself up and clenching her fists she nodded and pushed through the flock of children to Yayoi and Takako, the latter of whom was already on one of Mawata's cellular phone.   
  
Hajime returned to the group of knights and told them that the fire had been put out, and that the three of them had tracked it back to its source. The campsite from which the fire had sprung was abandoned, but a car was still in the clearing, having been too close to the fire for whoever had been camping there to risk getting too. The path of destruction left indicated clearly where the fire had come from, and thus who was responsible for it. As the car's license plates were unharmed, it would be easy to identify its owner. Sasame nodded, and led Hajime over to where Kei was standing, leaning heavily on Goh. Pulling off his white cape, Sasame held it out in front of Hajime.   
  
"Will you please soak this through?" No sooner asked than done. Sasame and Goh gently wrapped Kei in the wet cloak, the entire area over his back staining red instantly. He smiled weakly.  
  
"I'm better off than any of us were after the first fight with Saihi. Burns aren't a new thing." He looked at Goh, too tired even to manage a glare. Goh realized belatedly that he was crying, and quickly wiped his face with his free sleeve.   
  
"C'mon, I'll take you back to Leafenia, get you started." Goh tightened his hold on Kei slightly, preparing to transport.  
  
"Wait! Mawata-san...?" He looked over at the girl who, after a minute, had followed Himeno to the other side of the kids. "You'll look after her? She's hurt..." He turned his gaze evenly on Hayate. His voice and look made it clear that it was Hayate, and Hayate only to whom he was entrusting Mawata. The knight of Wind nodded.  
  
"I will watch over her... Until you get back."   
  
Before Kei could answer, Goh had transported them.  
  
~Fin~  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
EPILOGUE, a week later  
  
Mawata sat, book in hand, on the grassy knoll next to the giant wind-chimes, which were hitting each other gently in the soft breeze, creating a nice low background noise. On the other side of the chimes sat Hayate and Himeno, the latter reading a child's book to the former, who appeared to be counting on his fingers. Every now and then Himeno would playfully whack Hayate with the book, earning her a conspiratorial whisper that made her eyes grow wide. In the forest behind them, the three young knights were thrashing about, hunting for something that most likely didn't exist, although you never knew in the Awayuki forests... Sasame and Takako were working, Takako having been given a job at Sasame's radio company cleaning up. Goh was strategically pulling up blades of grass and then burning them slowly from tip to end.   
  
With the wind, Hayate and Himeno's conversation was drifting over. "So, there were seven, right?" - Hayate.  
  
"Yes, and they worked in a mine." Himeno was obviously repeating herself, although she did it without condensation.  
  
"And they all had names. Let's see... Bashful, that's easy, that's Shin. Sleepy must be Mannen, he's passing out everywhere all the time. (an annoyed 'Hey!' echoed through the forest). Goh's happy. Too happy." Hayate winced as the fire knight chuckled to himself, watching the grass burn, and continued, "so what's left. Sneezy? Hajime. Really. You should have seen him in that field of flowers. Half of them lost their petals he was sneezing so hard." Obviously Hayate was referring to part of an earlier conversation. "Grumpy, Kei, obviously. Doc? What kind of name is that? Well, Sasame can have it. No one ever knows what kind of person he is (at the radio station, Sasame sneezed while on the air). Who does that leave for me?"   
  
"Dopey, obviously. Anyone with brains would have foisted him off on someone else at the beginning." Kei's voice echoed clearly from atop the wind-chimes. Mawata was on her feet in a second, looking up. Sure enough, the blond knight was there, wearing the white suit she had seen him in once or twice.   
  
She had only seen him once in the week following her returning home. The day after they returned Mawata had woken up, looked at the bandages on her arms, and realised she had no idea whether her savior was even alive or not. At her insistence, Himeno had asked the knights whether it would be possible for Mawata to see Kei. They had assured her he was fine and healing in Leafenia, but she had refused to be reassured until she had seen with her own eyes that he was alive. So, after some deliberation, she had been brought to Leafenia, the first human not a preatear to ever set foot on the world of the Leaf Knights.   
  
They had shown her Kei, he had been lying in a large vaguely circular mess of light and plants, all the colours of the rainbow flitting back and forth over his still form. But even through all the barriers, she could see that his chest was rising and falling. He was alive. And healing.  
  
After asking such a big favor, she had been unwilling to ask any more of the knights, and thus had had no idea when Kei would be finished healing. Her own skin was now only peeling slightly, a definite improvement on the chafing bandages and burning creams. At the camp, the children had all been picked up over the two days following the fire, Yayoi, Takako, Sasame and the three young knights had stayed to make sure of that. Hayate had taken her and Himeno back to the house, where she had been promptly seen to by a doctor. Goh had apparently remained in Leafenia with Kei.   
  
But now he was here. He was still alive, and he was here. Mawata dropped her book.   
  
Kei hopped down from the top of the wind-chimes lightly, and ducked the cuff aimed at him by Hayate.  
  
"Well, it's true. If you had any fore sense... or any sense at all, for that matter..." He did not escape the tackle that the wind knight aimed at him, and they both landed on the grass next to Himeno, who smiled even though she was rolling her eyes. Goh had lumbered to his feet, and, bending down, pulled the slighter light knight to his as well.  
  
They stared at each other for a minute in silence. Goh held out his hand flat. Kei, after staring at it suspiciously for a second, slapped it, hard. Goh raised his own hand up, catching just the very tip of Kei's nose. Kei covered his eyes, groaning, while Goh laughed so hard he almost started crying. Mawata, who was standing behind Goh's back, could see Kei smiling even below his hand. Then she saw his eyes alight on her, and he stepped past Goh.   
  
"Mawata-san. Are you all right now? I'm sorry I didn't have time to make sure before we left. _Someone_," his eyes flitted towards Goh for a second and then back again, "took me off before I had wanted to leave."   
  
"Yeah, and you passed out two seconds later," muttered Goh.  
  
"I'm fine. Thanks to you... you saved my life. I seem to keep getting you hurt..." Mawata looked down at the ground, guilt rolling heavily in her stomach. To her surprise, she felt a hand on her chin, and then had her face lifted up so that she was looking Kei right in the eyes.  
  
"Nothing that happened there was your fault. If there had been a child in the cabin, and you had been hurt rescuing him, would you have blamed him?"  
  
Mawata shook her head, staring into his golden eyes. Surely it was impossible for eyes to shine like that... Behind Kei, she saw Hayate pull Himeno to her feet and lead her off, his arm around her shoulders.   
  
"So how can you think that I blame you, when I was simply rescuing you? I might be grumpy occasionally," his eyes narrowed as he glared at Hayate's retreating back momentarily, "but I hold no hate for any person who lives now." He cocked his head thoughtfully, "and especially not for such a charming one!" Blinking his large eyes, he swiveled around to address Goh, and thus completely missed Mawata's blush, and the smile that formed shyly.  
  
"And you can just forget about whatever you were going to say to that, Happy."  
  
She was still smiling when he turned back around to invite her for a celebratory ice-cream cone.   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
~  
  
kokoro no naka hitori janai koto   
  
itai hodo kono mune o atsuku suru  
  
hajimaru ne shinjiru koto kara   
  
kono kimochi ikiru akashi  
  
hateshinai mirai hirogaru kono sora   
  
atarashii jibun ni umare kawaru  
  
sekaijuu shiawase no yuki furasete miseru yo   
  
sono te tsunaide  
  
~  
  
In my heart I'm not alone...   
  
It makes my heart so hot, it hurts.   
  
Believing from the beginning...   
  
this feeling is the proof that I'm living...   
  
The endless future stretching wide in the sky   
  
I'll be reborn an a new me.   
  
I'll show you the snow of happiness falling all over the world!   
  
Please hold that hand.   
  
~  
  
White Destiny 


End file.
